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Let's talk about bird tongues (2014)


You don’t have to look at many birds to realize that they are very variable in appearance: hawks look different from hummingbirds, and both look different from peacocks. You can spend a lot o…

The tongues of fish-eating birds are often covered in little rear-facing hooks or spikes to prevent a captured fish from slipping away from them. Hairs and spikes on the duck/goose tongue act like a sieve, allowing the bird to filter food particles from the water, somewhat like a baleen whale. And—I am sure you have always wanted to know this—the North Island Kiwi’s tongue’s “large laryngeal pad… incidentally, is very similar in outline to the swim-bladder of the porcupine-fish!”

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bird tongues