Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Fun Fact: Ton-Tongues

Blue Whales are the largest mammals on earth, but did you know that a Blue Whale's tongue is the size and weight of a full grown African Elephant, and is in fact so large that 50 people could stand on it. Considering that a full grown African Elephant is the largest living land-animal that is some serious ton-tongue.

Other tonguetastic creatures, like the Chameleon, has a tongue that can be over 1.5 times the lenght of it's body, and can shoot out to catch prey at speeds of 16 feet per second, whereas a Crocodile cannot stick it's tongue out at all; it's actually attached to the roof of it's mouth.

The longest human tongue ever recorded, according to The World Records, is 9,5 cm (3,74 inches) long.

And slightly off-subject, I just had to mention a fun (and disgusting) fact about dogs I discovered while watching a wolf documentary; the reason that dogs (or wolves, if you will) tend to lick your face is not because they are kissing you, it's because they are waiting for you to regurgigate food for them, as this is a habit they learned as pups.
Gross! OK, just to get that image off your head, I will say that they also lick you to show their affection towards you.