Powerful and strong tail

Question

If humans hadn't lost their tails and today we had fully prehensile tails as long as 1/2 our body and stronger than an arm, how would the tail of a bodybuilder or just a buff person look? Would tail muscles be as visible as the trapezium or the abdominal and change completely the appearance and morphology of the body, or would they be non-visible?

And most importantly, how would the back of a human look?

By fully prehensile I mean the tail can be controlled to lift, move or hold still weights as heavy as the person's own body (just like monkeys do), and it can also do involuntary motions to express emotions just like our faces do. Tails are used as third limbs in daily life.

If you want tails that can lift 50+ kilograms, they're going to need to be hugely muscled. Those muscles will most certainly be visible, I'd think, and the tail is going to need to be fairly thick as a result. — Palarran, Oct 04 '16 at 13:57
Related: How would having a prehensile tail change society?, How would a tail affect fighting styles? Or would it have basically no effect?, What would medieval battles look like if humans had fully prehensile tails?, Creatures with weaponized tails, and probably others... — user, Oct 04 '16 at 14:01
@MichaelKjörling good catch, but I can't see anything about look there. Surprisingly. — Mołot, Oct 04 '16 at 15:24
@Mołot Hence "related". All I did was search for questions containing tail. — user, Oct 04 '16 at 15:25
I wonder what the tail of a hot woman would look like? Fashon? Would it be a sexy part or more mundane like the arms? — JDługosz, Oct 11 '16 at 21:09
they have different cultures with different fashions and definitions of what is sexy... — , Oct 13 '16 at 07:47

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 26 '17 at 11:42

3

If your tail is as powerful as an arm, there is as much muscle in the tail as in the arm.

Consequently, muscle will be a major part of the tail (like the ratio muscle/bone in the arm) and therefore extremely visible, especially if a specific training is in progress in order to buff the tail's strength.

Concerning the back: spine and pelvis would have to be stronger and more solid in order to support the weight lift by the tail.

edited Apr 26 '17 at 11:42

Secespitus

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answered Oct 04 '16 at 15:22

Metushael

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Could a tail that thick/strong be prehensile? – WGroleau Oct 04 '16 at 15:33
A thick tail would still be prehensile, even if it would be less flexible than a chimp tail: I think of a 6/10cm wide tail. – Metushael Oct 04 '16 at 15:47

Powerful and strong tail

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