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Back to front- a frog's tongue is fastened in the front, not the back and is folded backward to the throat. It shoots out with a speed truly beautiful to behold, hits the fly, and zips in. And of course, in the cartoons, they do more than can be done in real life. A frog does not aim well after shooting the tongue out, nor will it change direction midstream. Many need to move their whole heads, not just shoot a tongue behind their heads like a cartoon.

The tongue of a frog is about a third of the frog's length. Sounds impressive, until you realize if a human had a comparable tongue, it would reach a bellybutton. Seems far for a human, but not a frog. The tongue can flip back in 15/100 of a second, though, which is faster than human can follow. Despite this, I swear some humans talk almost as fast as that frog's tongue. Maybe frogs are more like us than we care to admit.

Using a test call synchronized electromyography, experts have recently discovered new ways the frog's tongue works. The muscles start are loose and mushy, and when ready, some become rigid, like a rod down the middle of the tongue, and a second group of muscles, perpendicular to the base of the tongue, stiffen. This shoots the tongue up. Think a wet towel snapping, or a whip.

Other muscles pull the tongue back in. The test basically connected tiny little wires to the frog tongue, and measured current. Using high speed photography also helped to show which muscles did which work. Good jumpers, good aim, the inspiration for Kermit the frog- these amazing creatures have amazing tongues and continue to astound us.

Learn more about this author, Liomas Thomas.
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