A new study released by Georgia Tech led by Alexis Noel, Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. student at that institution has revealed the hidden nature and mechanics of how frogs use their squishy and sticky tongues to eat their prey. With acceleration forces  reaching 12 Gs these prey experiment over 4x that of astronauts in a rocket leaving the atmosphere at 3 Gs.

With the use of high speed video cameras  at over 1,000fps the study was able to reveal the complex motion, eye retraction and viscous properties of the frog’s elastic tongue while catching prey.  The frog uses a mucus like substance on the tongue to generate the stickiness necessary to envelop the insect prey without ejecting them off from the brutal speed and force generated.

Congratulations to Alexis for harnessing the power of high speed to unearth the secrets of amphibian eating habits.  We hear that she is also working on feline tongues for the future including a tiger’s tongue.

You can find the full Georgia Tech Article below that goes in depth about the findings.

Full Article: http://www.rh.gatech.edu/features/eating-blink-eye

Frog Tongue Science in Slow Motion – Georgia Tech’s Action Footage from Experiments:

Reversible saliva makes frog tongues sticky Alexis Noel Georgia Tech:

Giant monkey frog captures prey: Alexis Noel Georgia Tech:

South American horned frog by Alexis Noel Georgia Tech:

Leopard frog snares cricket by Alexis Noel Georgia Tech:

Glass frog wrestles with cricket and wins by Mark Mandica Georgia Tech:

Northern leopard frog snatches prey in midair by Alexis Noel Georgia Tech: