A prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has adapted to grasp or hold objects. Fully prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees.

Are human tongues prehensile?

The thesis of this Review is that the tongue also has a dazzling array of prehensile functions. Historically, it has received little attention as a manipulator, and instead has been regarded as an organ of taste or mastication.

What can be prehensile?

Prehensile is an adjective that comes from a French word for “grasped.” Humans and other primates (like monkeys, lemurs, and gorillas) have prehensile hands with curling fingers for grasping — a definite advantage over dogs, for instance, who can't use a pencil when poetic inspiration strikes them.