Giant Salamander Has World's Most Powerful Tongue

Scientists say that the giant palm salamander of Central America has the world’s most powerful tongue.

The giant palm salamander of Central America (Bolitoglossa dofleini) captures fast-moving bugs with an explosive tongue thrust that releases over 18,000 watts of power per kilogram of muscle.

Stephen Deban of the University of South Florida in Tampa said the secret to the tiny salamander's strength lies in its "ballistic" tongue-firing mechanism.

Much like an arrow shot from a bow, Deban said, the giant palm salamander's bony tongue is launched with an initial burst of energy and flies forward under its own momentum.

The "bow" is provided by elastic fibers in the salamander's mouth that stretch to store muscular energy and then release it all at once.

"You can pull the string back as slowly as you like, but when you let it go, the arrow achieves a much higher rate of energy release," Deban said.

Link & Image: National Geographic
Tags: Salamander Tongue Powerful Nature Science