Alvarezsaur tails?

[Paleona]

I just have a quick question about alvarezsaurs! I know the majority of theropod tails were stiffened and straight, but I was wondering if alvarezsaur tails were possibly bendy? I'm drawing a small Shuvuuia, and I've sketched its tail curving quite a bit, and then twisting again at the tip, purely for aesthetic purposes. Just wanted to see if this would even be possible, or if I should correct it, haha.

[Lanthanotus]

Not sure about Shuvuuia, but Mononykus is closely related and its caudal vertebrae don't look fused or stiffened by ossified tendons according to this skeleton.

[Sim]

You mentioned the majority of theropod tails were stiffened and straight, but as far as I'm aware most theropod tails weren't stiffened and were flexible.  Most dromaeosaurids have long bony rods through most of their tail which has been thought made their tail stiff, but it turns out these rods are quite flexible and only stiffened their tails to some degree as the specimens of Velociraptor and Bambiraptor/Saurornitholestes seen here show: http://pterosaur-net.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/guest-post-dragon-tails-what-pterosaurs.html

The Fighting Dinosaurs fossil of Velociraptor and Protoceratops is famous for preserving the two dinosaurs in lifelike poses probably as a result of the two being buried by sand while they were fighting.  Interestingly, the Velociraptor's tail is curved vertically, rods included.  Dromaeosaurids (excluding the Unenlagiinae) are the only theropods I can think of with something stiffening their tails (not counting pygostyles) and their tails still appear to have been quite flexible.

[Paleona]

Thanks for the replies!

That's some useful info, Sim, thank you. Still learning!

[Sim]

I just remembered, some abelisaurids evolved to have a stiff anterior portion of the tail in a unique way.  This is the paper about this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3197156/

[Dinoguy2]

All true, however, they'd still not be as bendy and flexible as a piece of string, able to do small loops at the tip etc. the whole tail would be about as flexible as say a licorice stick even without bony rods, just the effect of muscle, skin, and ligament. I'd look at modern lizards with long thin tails as examples.

[Paleona]

That's a cool analogy, using licorice. Definitely didn't have loops or anything that extreme in mind, though that would be pretty impressive!

I'll have to read through these articles and papers when I get a chance