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Description

The smallest of all Deinodids, Dextrocauda species only reach a mass of around 6 kilograms. They are skilled foragers, having adapted their lung-tail to be more flexible and finely muscled with opposable palps surrounding the nostrils. This trunk-like appendage allows them to pick through the litter on the forest floors for edible bits of produce or small exoskeletal animals. Some Dextrocauda species have adapted to walk backward so that their trunk is facing forward, and the rest have adapted to have their body angled upward with their trunk dangling beneath.

Description

The smallest of all Deinodids, Dextrocauda species only reach a mass of around 6 kilograms. They are skilled foragers, having adapted their lung-tail to be more flexible and finely muscled with opposable palps surrounding the nostrils. This trunk-like appendage allows them to pick through the litter on the forest floors for edible bits of produce or small exoskeletal animals. Some Dextrocauda species have adapted to walk backward so that their trunk is facing forward, and the rest have adapted to have their body angled upward with their trunk dangling beneath.