Abstract: The invention comprises an animal identification tag. The tag is a plastic sheet preformed into a sspiral shape to form several overlapping spiral layers from one end to the other. The sheet is formed of resilient material whereby the outer spiral layer may be separated from the next adjacent layer along its outer edge so that a cow's tail of conventional size may be slipped between laterally of the length of the tail and the tag may be rotated to slide the tail between the spiral layers until the tail is located inside the innermost spiral layer. The tag has a preformed spiral shape wherein the innermost spiral layer has a diameter when unstraightened that is slightly smaller than the outside diameter of a small cow's tail so that the tag will compress back, after straightening, toward its smaller diameter and thereby snuggly engage the tail of cows of varying sizes to retain the tag on the tail. The tag has indicia along its outermost spiral layer to identify the cow.