The tongue is a specialized muscular organ that helps manipulate food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive process. It also functions as the primary organ of taste.
The top surface of the tongue contains numerous papillae, which are bumps containing taste buds that can detect five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory.
Overview of Tongue as a Food Source
The tongue is a vital part of our digestive system. It helps chew food, moisten it with saliva and swallow it down the throat to be digested.
It also assists in speech. It has taste buds on its dorsal surface that are equipped with different types of cells that can detect sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy or umami sensations.
The tongue is a highly adapted muscle that aids a wide range of herbivores, carnivores and insectivores. Some animals use their tongues to catch prey