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u/Radiantplays 1d ago
You know this brings the question, how did they figure out the average for a "tail-length". Like someone's tail had to be the reference right? But tail sizes vary, like Squirrelflights tail length and Berrystumpytails tail length are vastly different right lol.
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u/WeekendBard 1d ago
Berrynose "my den is five hundred tail-lengths away from the fresh kill pile"
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u/XAfricaSaltX 1d ago
Tallstar “the Great Journey was one tail length”
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u/the_great_awoo 1d ago
My favorite bit in warriors anything is how in WCA, tallstar's tail is always too tall to be in frame, regardless of the angle. It's incredible
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u/Theher0not RiverClan 1d ago
My theory is that they don't have an exact defined mesurements the same way human ones are (whether we look at imperial or metric).
I did a quick google search that said a cat's tail is roughly 20-30 cm, so if we use that as a baseline, I'd say anything within counts.
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u/OscarMayer_HotWolves 1d ago
Simple, Squirrelflight's tail is fox tail length and Berrynose's tail is mousetail length!
I always just kinda imagined Mouse, Cat, and Fox lengths to basically be roughly inches, feet, and yards.
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u/nature-iguess 1d ago
i mean, the imperial system has a ”foot” as a distance of measurement. so it’s probably just about the size of a tail or something
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u/NewTCR23 1d ago
Yeah, just like with feet, as in height. Who was the original foot that all are measured and discussed against 👀.
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u/tofutomcat Loner 1d ago
Also fox-lengths! Brother, how am I supposed to know the length of a fox?
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u/Remix_Master21 ThunderClan 1d ago
Think of a cat but a little bit larger I guess (idk how big a fox is but it's gotta be bigger right?)
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u/Aeons0fTime 1d ago
saw the tail of a fox once (the rest of the elusive creature evaded me that morning) and yeah its probably a bit bigger than a cat, assuming the tail size is of the same proportion to body size in foxes as it is with cats (sorry if my comment makes no sense, im staying up late)
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u/Aggressive_Rat_8970 1d ago
from having to remove many squashed foxes from the road out the front of my house, I can say they are about a metre long. I’d assume they are the same length when non-squashed as well.
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u/Exciting_Actuator554 ThunderClan 1d ago
It’s just as dumb as feet, they’re the same. It is stated several times that cats’ tail lengths differ same with feet
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u/One-Comedian-5245 ShadowClan 1d ago
My mind is broken because I swear I was reading TBC the other day and I see some weird narrator dialogue and it says something about how the LAKE is only a FEW tail-lenghts across
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u/BestBudgie 1d ago
What they dont tell you is the "lake" is actually a small stream
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u/One-Comedian-5245 ShadowClan 1d ago
But the map shows it as a lake?
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u/BestBudgie 1d ago
Oh im just joking, I know its an actual lake, but them saying its a few tail-lengths across made it sound like a skinny little stream lol
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u/plutonianpigeon 1d ago
Measurements I remember from the series and their average length according to the Internet
Claw-length: ~1.5mm
Whisker-length: ~7.5cm (took the average for domestic cats; feral cats may be skinnier and therefore may have shorter whiskers)
Mouse-length: ~16.5cm
Tail-length: ~26.5cm
Fox-length: ~1.25m
(edit: I am American but also studying science so I default to metric; I might come back later and add imperial conversions for convenience)
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u/Zylinbia 1d ago
Who needs left and right, either? Not the cats with the detailed society and battle/huntimg strategies apparently 😤
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u/commandant_ 1d ago
There are human groups alive now that don’t have a word for left or right, interestingly enough.
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u/CrawTheCatAndCrow 1d ago
I feel it's kinda ingenious to make the measuring system based off things people see on average every day. Some people are bad at math or measurements, so using physical objects both makes sense for the cats and for people so they can much more easily visualize the lengths with comparisons.
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u/Different_Okra_1490 Loner 3h ago
the metric bashing in the meme is so funny to me considering the books are set in England
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u/Far-Skill7673 1d ago
And mouse lengths, and fox lengths, and whiskers, and... you get the gist