UNUSUAL
TONGUES
The tongue, the primary organ of taste, is a group of
muscles that manipulates food for mastication. It also serves as a natural
means of cleaning one's teeth but for other animals, tongues do have different
uses. It’s amazing to know that their tongues have very unusual features.
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| common garden snail |
Snails seem to be toothless through our naked eye but Common
Garden Snail holds the record for having the “most toothed-tongue”. It has 135
rows of teeth so there’s no wonder they do a lot of damage to plants and many
crops. Its tough tongue is called radula.
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| blue whale |
Do you know that the tongue of blue whale alone can feed
more than 100,000 of people for a dinner? Blue whale, being the largest
creature on earth has a tongue that weighs about 3 short tons. Because it’s
really huge, it’s tongue is one of the most remarkable body parts of the blue
whale.
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| cat licking |
Have you ever experience to touch or even felt the tongue of
your pet cat? Cat’s tongues are like sandpaper that they felt to be rough. This
is use by cats to clean their bodies and detangle fur as it acts like the
bristles of a hairbrush. The tongue of cats is composed of rows of hooked,
backward-facing spines called papillae. So every time you see your cat licking,
it means your cat is grooming.
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| chameleon catching its prey |
Chameleons are among the most intriguing creatures in the
world. These creatures are known for their ability to change color.The
chameleon possesses a prehensile tongue adapted for rapidly striking prey that
strays within striking distance. This remarkably long tongue can be twice the
chameleon’s own body length and extends out faster than the human eye can
follow, hitting prey in about 30 thousandths of a second. The tip of this
elastic tongue is a muscular, club-like structure covered in thick mucus that
forms a suction cup. Once the tip sticks to a prey insect, the tongue is
quickly drawn back into the mouth.
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| anteater with tongue out |
If you thought the chameleon had a big tongue, check out the
giant anteater’s, which can reach two feet (60 cm) in length. The anteater
coats its tongue in sticky saliva during feeding, allowing it to ensnare ants,
and can rapidly flick its tongue from its mouth up to 150 times per minute.
After breaking into insect colonies and tree trunks using their long sharp
claws, anteaters employ their tongues to collect eggs, larvae and adult
insects, a few thousand of which they can guzzle in just minutes.
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| salamander |
Salamanders are amongst the most powerful creatures on
Earth. Some Salamander species can shoot their tongues out so fast that
scientists suspect it can’t be done by the direct application of muscle power
alone. The salamanders use their tongues to catch flying insects with accuracy.
The Salamander’s amazing tongue is launch from its mouth like an arrow from a
bow. The estimated maximum speed of a Salamander’s tongue ranges from 6 to 15.7
mps.
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| giraffe on zoo |
Aside from holding the records of tallest land-dwelling
animal, longest neck in the world and longest tail in proportion to its body,
Giraffe also hold the record of having one of the toughest tongues in the world.
The Giraffe feeds on leaves and twigs of trees, preferring Acacia trees in
which some species are very thorny but Giraffe’s tongue and lips are tough
enough to withstand the hardy thorns of this plant. Not only that, a Giraffe
can clean off any bugs that appear on its face with its extremely long tongue
which is about 45 centimeters.
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| cute little penguin |
Penguins are not just the best swimmer amongst birds they
also have a unique tongues which is spiny. The tongue is designed this way so
that fish can't slip out of their mouth.
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| pink flamingo |
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