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Researchers may have finally nailed down exactly why a frog’s sticky tongue is so effective for catching prey.
Observing the South American horned frog, researchers analyzed how sticky the frogs’ tongues are as well as how much weight they could capture, National Geographic reported.
Curious to understand the trick, Thomas Kleinteich and Stanislav Gorb, biomechanics specialists at the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel, northern Germany, placed juicy titbits behind a pressure-sensitive glass panel.
Aiming for the food, the frog glommed its tongue onto the plate, enabling the team to measure the appendage’s pulling power.
The big surprise was that the stickiness did not derive much from the mucus that coats the frog’s tongue, the team said.
Instead, it is the surface texture of the tongue, and the qualities of its underlying tissues, that most likely provide the bulk of the adhesive strength.
“The experimental data shows that frog tongues can be best compared to pressure-sensitive adhesives that are of common technical use as adhesive tapes or labels,” according to the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Agencies/Canadajournal
