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Well, there is already a similar question, but I consider mine to be somewhat different as I am not asking about hair-thin fibers that can act individually. The kind of "hair" that I envision are more alike tentacles that act like functional limbs, with significat more thickness that human hairs.

Here are some examples that show what I mean.

https://www.deviantart.com/gremcorporation/art/1191-624593453https://www.deviantart.com/gremcorporation/art/1191-624593453

I am unsure whether it is possible to lift an entire body with this kind of structures but they can also be more moderate in size.

I believe this solution is more believable than prehensile hair acting as individual fibers.

  • Then this things maybe will have a limitated growing and size, in one moment will stop its growing.
  • The shape probably will be defined, I said not so malleable, for example all the time will look like tentacles or snakes or like in the shoewed image a hand-like shape.
  • With a limited quantity of "appendices" (just look at the images you easily can count these limbs, thing that can not be did with "fiber" hair).

what should be able to do this hair?

  • The most important thing is be enough flexible and strong for carry little objects like tools maybe even to hit some things.

  • Being able to control some of this appendices at the same time, maybe bringing problems to locomotive intelligence

  • But the amaizing secondary function, carry at the least the body weight of the creature with this appendices, using all them together.

Probably de secondary is completly impossible and the first very hard, because usually (but not obligated for this question) are boneless structures and the working of the know tentacles out of water is very insufficient, and things like trunks have a complex biomechanic based on rigid bone structures that support the muscles. But hey I do not know enough for determine it, maybe hidrostatic pressure could help?

Maybe at the end my only solution are literally vertebral spines from the skull.

Things that I did not considered is tension for the neck the moment of be carried or the total weight of the head with this new structures.

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    $\begingroup$ the obvious answer is in your images, those are not hair they are tentacles. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Dec 13, 2020 at 13:42
  • $\begingroup$ @John. Oh yea, thats I problem, originally I thought that English had a separated word for head hair and other for hair in general, anyways I thougth that this was understandable. $\endgroup$
    – Drakio-X
    Dec 13, 2020 at 15:52

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"The most important thing is be enough flexible and strong for carry little objects like tools maybe even to hit some things. Being able to control some of this appendices at the same time, maybe bringing problems to locomotive intelligence But the amaizing secondary function, carry at the least the body weight of the creature with this appendices, using all them together."

Forget fancy materials. All you need is structure.

Did you know hollow bones are just as strong as human bones? That's because of their structure. Did you know spider webs are strong enough to hold a spider? Did you know fiberglass is strong enough block bullets? Did you know the Eiffel tower is strong enough to hold itself against winds, just like real structure, but it is empty and hallow.

All you need is geometry, structure. That's it... Fragile proteins organized in specific shapes and orders can become incredibly light weight and durable, capable to hold and move.

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Having joints and large muscles attached to the back of the head seems like a recipe for disaster but attached below the neck on their spine could work. Their body would need to be relatively small for it to work, so no large dragon types.

It is also a major design flaw as they serve no real purpose that longer limbs could not provide and having limbs on the back of the body cant help defend your back, unless they have eyes on their back too, having limbs come from the back of their head to attack would also limit their range of movement because if they swing too hard they will hit their own head.

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  • $\begingroup$ Oh yea, probably there are a lot of biomecjanical problems but currently the priority is not find a way of how could evolve it for this not if is totally useful or uselessm $\endgroup$
    – Drakio-X
    Dec 13, 2020 at 16:00
  • $\begingroup$ @Drakio-X I think if you are asking for scientific reasons for the limbs to work then the usefulness comes into question also, in a hand-wave story both the limb structure and usefulness is not a problem but science-based scenario it does not make sense, octopi tentacles will work well but they cant support much weight. $\endgroup$
    – Terry cameron
    Dec 13, 2020 at 16:10
  • $\begingroup$ Thats other problem, the solution is not simplely "tentacles", because these are supported by the water. $\endgroup$
    – Drakio-X
    Dec 13, 2020 at 16:13
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    $\begingroup$ @Drakio-X But then you are after a complicated system of joints or large set of muscles on the back of the cranium, even with the thickest neck this would create nerve issues. What initially popped into my mind was the hair technique of Sindel from MK or Jiraiya from naruto, using sticky hair to wrap around objects but as you are after many limbs attached to a sensitive area you will need to hand wave and basically stick on the correct muscular/joint system. $\endgroup$
    – Terry cameron
    Dec 13, 2020 at 16:22

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