Toad Tongues Slay With Seriously Sticky Spit | Deep Look

How are frogs and toads so amazing at catching bugs? They smack ’em with a supersoft tongue covered in special spit, which flows into every nook and cranny of their target. Then, in less than a second, that spit transforms into a tacky glue, yanking the meal back into the toad’s maw. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! Please join our community on Patreon! DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. Toads nab their prey 5 times faster than the blink of an eye. How do they do it? They pop their lower jaw open, and launch their supersoft tongue at their meal, enveloping their prey. When their unique saliva hits prey at a high speed, it thins out dramatically, pouring into every nook and cranny the tongue touches. Then it becomes sticky again, drawing that meal down the hatch. --- How does a toad get insects OFF its tongue? Scientists at the University of Florida put tiny metal markers on cane toads’ tongues and filmed X-ray footage of them eating to see where that tongue went after the toad mouth closed. They found that the toad basically swallows its own tongue in order to scrape off its prey with a rigid piece of cartilage called a hyoid. See more images from their work here: --- How does a toad catch prey? It’s a combo of that super-soft tongue that helps envelop prey … and some very special spit. A toad’s saliva starts off thick and sticky. but when the saliva hits prey at a high speed, it thins out dramatically, pouring into every nook and cranny the tongue touches. --- More Great Deep Look episodes: How Does the Mussel Grow its Beard? | Deep Look This Parasite is Cramping The Monarch Butterfly’s Style | Deep Look Barnacles Go To Unbelievable Lengths To Hook Up | Deep Look GIF CHALLENGE WINNERS: 🏆Congratulations🏆 to these fans on our Deep Look Community Tab who correctly answered our GIF challenge! Dario Brittany Skyy Axqu Snata Chakraborty Evelo --- Thank you to our Top Patreon Supporters ($10 per month)! Burt Humburg Karen Reynolds Daisuke Goto Companion Cube David Deshpande Chris B Emrick Tianxing Wang Wade Tregaskis Mark Jobes Blanca Vides Kevin Judge monoirre Laurel Przybylski Cindy McGill Titania Juang Roberta K Wright Supernovabetty KW Rory B. Syniurge El Samuels Jellyman Mehdi Jessica Hiraoka Cristen Rasmussen Carrie Mukaida Kelly Hong SueEllen McCann Noreen Herrington Laurel Przybylski Nicolette Ray Caitlin McDonough Elizabeth Ann Ditz Levi Cai Delphine Tseng Louis O’Neill TierZoo Jeremiah Sullivan --- Follow Deep Look and KQED Science on social: @deeplookofficial Instagram: Twitter: --- About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media. #deeplook