Kangaroos use their tails a 'fifth leg'

Kangaroo’s tails can act as a fifth leg and help them jump great distances.
This study was released in Biology Letters.
Researchers took a look at red kangaroos for this study, according to Tech Times. They found that the kangaroos use their tails as a sort of fifth leg in order to propel themselves.
According to Huffington Post, the style of movement that the kangaroo uses is called pentapedal or “five-footed.”
“This neat study provides, at last, definitive evidence of the use of the tail during pentapedal locomotion in large kangaroos,” says Natalie Warburton, a marsupial anatomy expert. A kangaroo tail, she says, is “truly a fifth limb.”
Most of the kangaroo’s moving power is created in its tail, comparable to a skateboarder pushing off with their feet.
"We found that when a kangaroo is walking, it uses its tail just like a leg," says Maxwell Donelan, a corresponding author of the paper. "They use it to support, propel and power their motion. In fact, they perform as much mechanical work with their tails as we do with one of our legs."
A kangaroo’s tail has more than 20 vertebrae, which would take on the role of a human’s foot, calf and thigh bones.
Researchers also found that kangaroo’s tails are used for support in order to balance themselves.