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What animal has the longest tongue for its size and the stickiest saliva?

Question #62586. Asked by soonappear.
Last updated Dec 07 2023.

Related Trivia Topics: Animals  
Brainyblonde
Answer has 2 votes
Brainyblonde
24 year member
1455 replies

Answer has 2 votes.
The wryneck (an Old World woodpecker) has the longest tongue relative to body size -- "two-thirds of its body length excluding the tail."

link https://web.archive.org/web/20070115215752/http://www.birding.com/BirdRecords1.htm

Response last updated by MrNobody97 on Oct 01 2016.
Feb 16 2006, 5:52 AM
crisw
Answer has 2 votes
crisw
25 year member
86 replies

Answer has 2 votes.
My guess, given the ratio of tongue length to body size, would be the echidna. Echidnas have tongues about half the length of their bodies. Giant anteaters also have tongues that approach half their body length, if you don't count their tails!
link https://web.archive.org/web/20080209221313/http://www.petra.ac.id/asc/geography/fauna/

Almost all of the ant-eating mammals, from aardvarks to echidnas to pangolins to anteaters, have very sticky saliva. Convergent evolution at work :>)


Response last updated by gtho4 on Dec 07 2023.
Feb 16 2006, 3:40 PM
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MrNobody97 star
Answer has 7 votes
Currently Best Answer
MrNobody97 star
Moderator
21 year member
30 replies avatar

Answer has 7 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Consensus seems to be the pangolin for the animal with the stickiest saliva. One source among many:
link http://www.parasuniversal.com/2007/10/attenboroughs-life-of-mammals-2/

However, the tube-lipped nectar bat, which is from Ecuador, has an 85-millimeter tongue (one-and-a-half times the length of the bat's actual body), making it the mammal with the longest tongue relative to body size.
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_body_part#In_proportion_to_body_size

Oct 01 2016, 3:48 AM
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