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.

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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 Xray 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:

https://academic.oup.com/iob/article/...

+ How does a toad catch prey?

It’s a combo of that supersoft 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.

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