Tail

This Cobra has a red outline, signalling that it is a predator. However, its tail (rear end) has a light green outline, indicating it is able to be bitten by prey

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Oh no, you died from a tail-bite! Watch your tail!

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Almost all animals in Mope.io have a mechanic known as a tail: a vulnerable region located directly behind their frontside, indicated by a light green outline, which can be targeted by prey. While animals cannot directly harm their predators, biting a predator's tail will cause it to lose some health and XP. The tail mechanic was introduced on October 18, 2016.

Overview

A unique message occurs when the player is killed by a tail-bite

• The tail is a vulnerable region located at the rear end of an animal. If an animal's tail it is touched ("bitten") by another animal, the tail-bitten animal will lose some health and 2% of the bitten animal's XP.
  • If an animal bites the tail of a predator when its health is low enough, that animal will kill the predator, receiving XP from it.
• Tails can only be bitten by prey. If a predator touches an animal's tail, it will not count as a tail bite but as a "normal bite".
  • The difference between a tail bite and a normal bite is that tail bites have a cooldown time of approximately 4 seconds, and a tail-bitten animal will lose more XP than a normal bite from a predator.
• Animals cannot bite the tails of other animals that are neutral to them. For example, a tier 1 animal cannot bite the tail of any animal from tier 6 or above as it is too high on the food chain to harm it (i.e. neutral).
• Animals from tier 15 to tier 17 can bite their equivalent's tails. Tier 15 animals can bite other tier 15 animals' tails, but cannot bite their predator's tails outside of the Arena; this applies for tiers 16 and 17 as well.
  • This is the main premise of the 1v1 sub-game mode, where two animals from tier 15 or above fight to the death in an Arena by biting each other's tails until one loses all of their health] Notably, exclusively in the Arena, tier 15 and tier 16 animals can bite the tails of a predator they are matched against.
• When an animal is tail-bitten, it will automatically pivot around (except in the 1v1 arena).
• Biting the tail of a poisoned animal will cause the tail-biter to become poisoned as well.
• Animals that are flying in the air can bite predator's tails mid-air, if the predator is also flying.

Strategy

This article is about strategies for biting tails outside of the Arena. For tail-biting strategies in the Arena, see 1v1 § Strategy.

Offense

Tail-biting is a rewarding but risky strategy against predators. Many predators will be protective of their tail, so the best way to bite a predators tail is to take them by surprise, or when they are distracted with another animal.

• A good way to bite a predator's tail is to do so just as a predator leaves a hiding hole, where its tail will be exposed.
  • When being chased by a predator, go to a hiding hole. When the predator eventually leaves the hole, their tail will be exposed, providing the opportunity for the player to bite it. The downside is this could make an opposing player more aggressive, so use with caution.
• In water, particularly in the Ocean, a way to tail-bite predators is to dive underneath them, positioning oneself where the predator's tail is, and then emerge to bite the predator's tail.
  • This can be hard to do since the predator will likely notice the player diving. By diving directly underneath the predator (if they are big enough), obscuring the player's diving bubbles, there is less chance that the predator will notice.
• When a predator is focused on chasing another animal, that can be a good time to bite its tail. In some cases, the predator will be so focused on chasing its prey that it will not focus on defending its tail, allowing the player to bite it. However, this does not always apply.
• Certain special abilities have utility as means for biting a predator's tail, but should be conducted with precision and ideally on distracted or unwary predators:
  • The Gazelle's "Jump High" ability can be used to leap above predators and bite their tail from above.
  • The Warthog's "Charge" ability can be used to run from a distance into a predator's tail; start the charge from far away so that the predator is less suspicious.
  • The Cheetah's and Snow Leopard's "Boost" ability is useful to gain a sudden bout of speed to run up to a predator's tail and bite it. This ability is useful as it can be used to quickly tail-bite unsuspecting predators, and enhances the hiding hole strategy.
  • The Tiger's "Ambush Attack" ability, similarly to the "Boost", can be used to leap onto an unsuspecting predator's tail to bite it and deplete their health.
  • The Vulture's "Fly Bones" ability starts with it flying at ground level, allowing it to fly into a predator's tail.

Defense

It is recommended for players to guard their tail against prey, as tail bites will cause loss of health and XP.

• Generally it is fairly easy for animals to guard their tail: if an animal attempts to bite the player's tail, simply turn around and bite it. In many cases this will make the prey run away.
• Keep in mind that the aforementioned animals' special abilities can make it harder to defend against tail-biters.
  • The Cheetah and Tiger in particular are infamously designated as tail-biting animals. Because of this, if the player is a predator to the Tiger or Cheetah, keep in mind that they can speed up; be prepared to guard against these animals even if they are not close by.
• In some cases, if the player is being chased by a predator, the player's prey nearby will take the opportunity to try and tail-bite the player, since they will be focused on running away from the predator and cannot directly defend their tail.
  • In this case, it is possible to turn around to briefly bite the attempted tail-biter, as biting them once will cause some slight knockback, allowing the player to continue to flee the main predator whilst defending their tail.
• Unlike other tiers, animals from tiers 15 to 17 can be tail-bitten by their equivalents. This is important to keep in mind outside of the 1v1 arena; equivalent tier 15/16/17 animals can sometimes use tail-biting strategies on the player to decrease their health to kill them, or simply for the XP. Be aware of apex equivalents.
• Remember that AI animals such as bees, frogs, and ducks can bite their predators' tails. These AI animals do not consciously bite an animal's tail, but it will often happen by coincidence, making them potentially dangerous if the player is on extremely low health.

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History

This section lists the update history of the Tail as it is recorded in the changelog, as well as leaks or reveals from social media. Certain changes that were not explicitly added to the changelog might be missing.

Update History
Update	Changes and notes
March 27, 2023	In Wild Mope, tail bites from a Walrus inflict 130% more damage.
March 7, 2023	In Wild Mope, tier 1 animals will inflict 15% more damage when tail-biting predators
August 29, 2022	Team Mode is re-added: players on the same team cannot bite each other's tails.
March 3, 2020	Bug fix: Flying prey being unable to tail-bite flying predators.
February 11, 2019	Bug fix: Macaw showing its tail if in disguised form.
November 23, 2018	Tail-biting gives sustenance to the biting player.
October 6, 2018	In the newly-added Team Mode, it is possible to bite the tails of players on the same team, but the tail-biter will be burned. Added 1v1 mode: in this mode two animals fight to the death by biting each other's tails.
September 23, 2017	Added the poison effect: tail-biting a poisoned animal will cause the tail-biter to become equally poisoned. Added webs: tail-biting an animal trapped in a web will free it from the web.
April 24, 2017	Animals can dive underwater 2 seconds after their tail has been bitten.
April 18, 2017	The XP from tail bites is limited to two times the player's current XP level.
December 16, 2016	The Octopus cannot be tail-bitten when it is disguised.
December 7, 2016	Kraken cannot be tail-bitten during the first 2 seconds that its special ability is activated.
November 17, 2016	Equivalent animals cannot bite each other's tails anymore.
November 9, 2016	The tail bite cooldown is increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds. If an animal is continously tail-bitten, the XP gained will be reduced by 50%.
November 6, 2016	All animals can now bite their equivalents' tails.
October 27, 2016	The XP from tail-bites is limited to 1K, or 2% of the bitten animal's XP.
October 26, 2016	Tail-biting now gives 40 XP and 3% of the bitten animal's XP.
October 19, 2016	Tail-biting now does two times more damage, and is easier.
October 18, 2016	Tails are added: green outline located on predator's rear area that can be bitten by prey.

Trivia

• Before the tail mechanic was added on October 18, 2016, animals had no way of defending themselves against a predator, other than abilities and running away.
• Some animals appear to have huge physical tails, but only a small part that can be bitten. The longest tail is the Blue Whale's, and one of the shortest tails is the Jellyfish's (with no visible tail at all).

Glitches

• After the update on August 11, 2020, there was a glitch created where tail-biting gave no XP to the biter. This glitch was fixed circa 2021.
  • This was mainly due to the fact that exiting hiding holes briefly made animals invincible, preventing tail-bites from properly working.