This weeks Big Picture: diversity of animal tongues.

 

A penguin's tongue, though lacking taste buds, has large keratinized bristles that help grip the krill or fish as it enters the mouth. A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body and is one of the fastest in the animal kingdom. Polar Bear tongues are dark, often ranging from blue, to purple and sometimes black. The diversity of animal tongues is remarkable! From the sticky ones of chameleons to the blue prehensile ones of giraffes, we have a fascinating gallery of images for you. Click on any image to see a larger collection of images. A blue-tongued skink uses its tongue to startle and scare off enemies. A giraffe uses its prehensile, blue tongue to reach around acacia thorns and grab the tasty leaves. The tube-lipped nectar bat has the longest tongue relative to its body size of any mammal. Sun Bears have the longest tongues of all bears at almost 10" long! Geckos lick their eyes to clean them because most species lack eyelids. Gila Monsters flick their forked tongues to pick up scent particles in the air. Woodpeckers can extend their sticky, barbed tongues into tree cavities and pull it back with their prey. The rows of hooked, backward-facing spines on a cat’s tongue, known as papillae, act like the bristles of a hairbrush to help clean. Muntjacs have a long tongue that is used to strip leaves from bushes and to groom themselves.

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