Autodax: Feeding in Bufo terrestris

Feeding in Bufo terrestris

Bufo terrestris is a terrestrial anuran species from the southeastern United States. Like all members of the genus Bufo, it captures prey with a projectile tongue. Unlike salamanders, the toad's tongue contains no skeletal elements and is composed completely of soft tissue. Recent studies have shown that most of the energy of tongue projection originates in the mouth opening muscles, which lower the jaw extremely rapidly. The tongue is attached to the tip of the lower jaw and is literally whipped out of the mouth and stretched to a length of over two jaw lengths. In the movie below, note that the lower jaw is stationary by the time the tongue tip leaves the mouth. The rest of tongue projection is accomplished by momentum that has been imparted to the tongue by the lower jaw. This video was recorded at 3,000 frames per second.

For further information, see these scientific papers:

Lappin, A. K., Monroy, J. A., Pilarski, J. Q., Zepnewski, E. D., Pierotti, D. J. and Nishikawa, K. C. (2006). Storage and recovery of elastic potential energy powers ballistic prey capture in toads. J. Exp. Biol. 209, 2535-2553.

Mallett, E. S., Yamaguchi, G., Birch, J. M. and Nishikawa, K. C. (2001). Feeding motor patterns in anurans: insights from biomechanical modeling. Am. Zool. 41, 1364-1374.