=Shutterstock.com

Zap!

This chameleon’s tongue is surprisingly spectacular. So is your own!

By Talia Cowen

From the February 2022 Issue

Lexile: 500L-600L, 600L-700L

Guided Reading Level: Q

Featured Skill: Vocabulary and Grammar,

The Story
Resources

Want to hear this story read aloud by a Storyworks writer? Find the audio read-aloud in your Resources tab.

Want to hear this story read aloud by a Storyworks writer? Click here!

If you could pick a superpower, what would it be? Would you want to fly high in the sky, like an eagle? Breathe underwater, like a shark? What about having a tongue twice as long as your body? What if it were covered in spit 400 times stickier than the spit in your mouth? (Think of all the things you could grab without getting off the couch!)

That’s the superpower of the chameleon, a type of lizard found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. It comes in handy.

A chameleon moves slowly. But when it spots an insect . . .
ZAP! In the blink of an eye, it unfurls its lightning-fast tongue and snatches its next meal.

Dinner is served!

If you could pick a superpower, what would it be? Would you fly high in the sky, like an eagle? Breathe underwater, like a shark? What about having a tongue twice as long as your body? What if it were covered in spit 400 times stickier than the spit in your mouth? (You could use it to grab things without getting off the couch!)

That’s the superpower of the chameleon. That’s a type of lizard found in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

A chameleon moves slowly. But when it spots an insect . . .

ZAP! In the blink of an eye, it unrolls its lightning-fast tongue. It snatches its next meal.

Dinner is served!

Slimy Muscles

Kevin Scott Ramos/Guinness World Records

This dog, named Mochi, has the world’s longest dog tongue—7.3 inches!

Chameleons aren’t the only animals with strange tongues. Look inside the mouth of a blue whale, and you’ll see a big tongue as heavy as an SUV. And giant anteaters have skinny tongues that dive into underground ant nests and hastily slurp up the insects.

Compared with the tongues of all these animals, your tongue may seem boring, right? Wrong! It’s just as fascinating—and just as important to your life!

The human tongue is made up of groups of slimy muscles. Without your tongue, it would be really hard for you to chew, swallow, or taste food. Those tiny bumps you see on your tongue are called taste buds. There are about 10,000 of them, and they help you detect all kinds of flavors, from the sweetness of fruit to the saltiness of chips.

Chameleons aren’t the only animals with strange tongues. Inside the mouth of a blue whale is a big tongue as heavy as a small truck. Giant anteaters have skinny tongues that dive into underground ant nests. They hastily slurp up the insects.

Next to all these animal tongues, your tongue may seem boring, right? Wrong! It’s just as fascinating. And it’s just as important to your life!

The human tongue is made up of groups of slimy muscles. Without your tongue, it would be really hard for you to chew, swallow, or taste food.

Those tiny bumps you see on your tongue are called taste buds. There are about 10,000 of them. They help you detect all kinds of flavors, like sweet fruit and salty chips.

Tireless Tongues

Human tongues are usually about 3 inches long.

Shutterstock.com

There’s something else it’d be really hard to do without your tongue: talk! (Try saying hello to your friend without using your tongue—no one will understand what you’re saying!) The way your tongue rapidly twists and folds is key to forming sounds.

Plus, your tongue is tireless. It never takes a break. Even when you’re sleeping, it’s hard at work pushing spit down your throat so you don’t drool all over the bed.

So yeah, maybe your tongue is not as long and swift as a chameleon’s. But it has superpowers of its own.

There’s something else it’d be really hard to do without your tongue: talk! (Try saying hello to your friend without using your tongue. No one will understand you!) Your tongue rapidly twists and folds to form sounds.

Plus, your tongue never takes a break. It’s working even when you’re sleeping. It pushes spit down your throat so you don’t drool all over the bed.

So yeah, maybe your tongue is not as long and swift as a chameleon’s. But it has superpowers of its own!