tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-417198183046609731.post-19922012643989963162008-02-20T10:59:00.004+01:002008-02-20T11:16:52.361+01:00<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5iS9M-1RXYM/R7v6VJNxZeI/AAAAAAAAABQ/KE-SCXacaBA/s1600-h/GSTongueNehezy.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169000238495655394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_5iS9M-1RXYM/R7v6VJNxZeI/AAAAAAAAABQ/KE-SCXacaBA/s320/GSTongueNehezy.jpg" border="0" /></a>Woodpeckers have extensible tongues. In some species they are even prehensile. There are two basic types of woodpecker tongue: those with pointed tips and those with blunt, rounded tips. Pointed tongues are used to impale prey, rounded tongues are covered in a sticky substance and are used to lap up prey. We might say the first feeding method uses a spear, the second a gluey lasso. Tongues are also barbed but this varies between species. As a rule the more arboreal species (such as the <em>Dendrocopos</em> species) have more barbs on their tongues than the more terrestrial species (<em>Picus</em> species). Tongue length varies between species, too, and is also related to feeding methods. Species that specialise in eating ants tend to have longer tongues than those that feed on wood-dwelling beetles. In Europe the two <em>Picus</em> species, Green and Grey-headed (Grey-faced) Woodpeckers have the longest tongues. These long tongues are retracted and stored (in a loop) in a cavity around the skull and fixed near the nostril or eye-socket. This fantastic photo of a Great Spotted Woodpecker, with tongue protruding, was taken in Hungary by Laszlo Nehezy.Gerard Gorman:http://www.blogger.com/profile/02271069967109476047noreply@blogger.com