Biology Question #420
Justin, a 9 year old male from North Bay asks on November 27, 2001,
How long is a frogs tongue? I had a test question that I thought was wrong. Does a frog have a long tongue? I answered yes but I don't think they do.
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The answer
Barry Shell
answered on November 26, 2001
A frog's tongue is folded in its mouth. When extended, its length is about a third the length of the frog--as if our own tongue reached our belly button!
Frogs are amphibians, and the amphibian with the longest tongue is a cave dwelling salamander in Sardinia. It’s called Hydromantes supramontis. They are typically about 13 cm long, and their tongues are about 10.5cm, or 80% of their body length. Compared to a young person like you perhaps 1.3 meters tall, your tongue would be over one meter long. These salamanders have totally incredible tongues that they use to kind of “shoot” their prey. Here are two articles about Hydromantes supramontis from Amphibian Web and from the University of California at Berkeley.
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