Post by avinet on May 27, 2012 21:38:54 GMT 10
The Lorikeet tongue is quite a remarkable organ! I'm sure many will have heard of the brush tongue that lorikeets have evolved to enable it to readily take nectar and pollen from flowers, but I wonder how many have actually seen it up close?
I spent an enjoyable day today visiting a couple of aviculturists with my local avicultural society, one of our regular aviary visit tours, and had the opportunity to photograph a lorikeet tongue up close. One aviary had a young, hand raised Dusky Lorikeet in it that was keen to lick my finger through the wire of the flight, enabling me to take some photos of it's tongue.
The end of a Lorikeet tongue has a brush-like appearance due to the presence of papillae - small bristle-like outgrowths from the tip of the tongue. These papillae allow it to easily sweep up pollen and nectar when feeding on flowers. Interestingly these papillae can be folded back to protect them, giving the tongue a normal appearance when they are not needed. They must be very delicate, since a lorikeet fed on a seed diet rather than a nectar type diet will lose these papillae due to wear.
The photos follow - in one of them the entrance to the trachea, leading to the lungs, can be seen at the back of the tongue, while a "channel" can also be seen, presumably to allow food to be funnels back into the mouth.
cheers,
Mike
I spent an enjoyable day today visiting a couple of aviculturists with my local avicultural society, one of our regular aviary visit tours, and had the opportunity to photograph a lorikeet tongue up close. One aviary had a young, hand raised Dusky Lorikeet in it that was keen to lick my finger through the wire of the flight, enabling me to take some photos of it's tongue.
The end of a Lorikeet tongue has a brush-like appearance due to the presence of papillae - small bristle-like outgrowths from the tip of the tongue. These papillae allow it to easily sweep up pollen and nectar when feeding on flowers. Interestingly these papillae can be folded back to protect them, giving the tongue a normal appearance when they are not needed. They must be very delicate, since a lorikeet fed on a seed diet rather than a nectar type diet will lose these papillae due to wear.
The photos follow - in one of them the entrance to the trachea, leading to the lungs, can be seen at the back of the tongue, while a "channel" can also be seen, presumably to allow food to be funnels back into the mouth.
cheers,
Mike