Facts about the Tongue

The tongue is a muscular structure attached to the floor of the mouth. It is responsible for many various tasks. Read on to learn some facts you may not have known about tongues!

• The tongue is the main sensory organ for taste. The surface of your tongue is covered with taste buds which have taste receptors.
• On Average, the human tongue has 3,000 - 10,000 taste buds.
• The bumps that you can see on your tongue are called papillae. Our taste buds sit on top of the papillae but they are not visible to the human eye.
• There are five elements of taste : salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and savoury.
• These tastes can all be detected anywhere on the tongue, there are not specific taste areas.
• The tongue helps with changes in sound during speech.
• The tongue also works as a natural way of cleaning your teeth after you are done eating.
• The human tongue is divided into two parts the anterior and the posterior.
• The anterior part of the tongue is the visible part at the front and is about two-thirds of the tongue's length.
• The posterior tongue area is closest to the throat, and roughly one-third of length.
• There are eight muscles in the human tongue which can be classified as intrinsic or extrinsic.
• There are four intrinsic muscles which are not attached to any bone. These are the muscles that allow the tongue to change shape, such as point, roll, tuck, expanding and contracting.
• There are also four extrinsic muscles but these are attached to bone. They allow the tongue to change position, such as poke out, retract, side-to-side movement.
• The average length of the human tongue from the back to the tip is 10 cm (4 in).
• Taste receptors cannot actually taste food until saliva has moistened it. This is why we usually taste salty things first as salt dissolves quickly in moisture.
• Traditional human food dishes sometimes include tongue of various animals. In Mexico, they have a taco filled beef tongue dish. Pig and cow tongue is popular in Chinese cuisine.
• Sticking your tongue out to people is seen as immature or rude in many countries, however, in Tibet it is considered a greeting.
• Dogs and cats use their tongues to clean their fur and body. The rough texture of their tongue allows them to remove oils and parasites from their coat.
• Some animal tongues are specially designed to catch their prey. Chameleons, frogs, and anteaters have tongues that can extend out of their mouth and grab insects!

The blue whale has the largest tongue of all animals. Its tongue weigh's around 2.7 metric tons or 2700 kilograms!