Salamander tongues

Discussion in 'General Amphibians' started by HerpboyFLA, May 31, 2011.

  1. HerpboyFLA

    HerpboyFLA New Member

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    Here's a short clip of something pretty darn cool. Real action starts about 40 seconds in

     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. Felixjim

    Felixjim New Member

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    Very cool clip! I just wonder how he missed at that distance.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. HerpboyFLA

    HerpboyFLA New Member

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    That's something that baffles me too.

    We test between 5 -25 degrees C. So this could have been a colder temperature, but I know they've missed at higher temps too.

    They're also under bright lights, so that could throw them off as well.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Wow that's awesome. At 6000 fps too, nice. I <3 high speed photography :) Going by the ridiculous lighting we have to use at work for 1000 to 10,000 fps it's a wonder that little guy could even have his eyes open! I love how the cricket doesn't even react... (is it alive?)
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. HerpboyFLA

    HerpboyFLA New Member

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    Yea they're all alive. Usually they try and jump.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Apparently that one was just a bit slow then... lol. Did the salamander eventually get him? Did you happen to do the calculations and figure out how fast his tongue actually shot out?
     
  12. HerpboyFLA

    HerpboyFLA New Member

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    We've yet to do the calculations for this species (Desmognathus quadramaculatus), and I can't remember any other values off the top of my head right now, but check out Deban et al 2007 here http://debanlab.org/publications/, as well as some of the other papers.
     
  13. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    That's awesome. Ok so super super super rough estimate of the velocity that his tongue shot out is 20 inches per second... that's assuming in 300 frames the tongue moves 1 inch (I assumed 1 inch since that's the rough size of a cricket and that's approximately how far away he is... I think?) Anyway. It looked to me like it took him 300 frames to open his mouth and "eject" his tongue from his mouth and hitting the cricket with it.... going by 6000 frames per second it would be 20 inches per second... That's ridiculously fast for that short distance. Reptiles never stop amazing me, lol.
     
  14. HerpboyFLA

    HerpboyFLA New Member

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    I'd say the crickets are less than an inch, maybe 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch. Either way the tongue shoots...fast. Retraction is a different story though. Whether it's 5C or 25C, most salamander tongues move about the same speed, same holds true for chameleons. But, during retraction, slow temperature equals slow speeds.
     
  15. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Hm, that's very interesting that the "ejection" speed is the same but the retraction speed is reduced... That's great for the reptile obviously but still very interesting. Thank you for the info!
     
  16. HerpboyFLA

    HerpboyFLA New Member

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    No problem. Will probably be doing the analysis for this species in the coming weeks. I'll try to remember to share if the projection (not ejection :) lol should have shared that word earlier) velocities not changing much hold true or not.
     
  17. StikyPaws312

    StikyPaws312 Moderator

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    Lol sorry, I work with bomb racks all day and they are "ejecting" stores so... ejection was the natural word to come to me for that. Projection since it is not separating makes a lot more sense, sorry!
     
  18. Hannimal

    Hannimal New Member

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    wow, i had salamanders but they didn't eat like that, WoW
     
  19. Michelle2569

    Michelle2569 Embryo

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    Does anybody knw how to sex a tiger salamander I have 2 n just wanna knw there sex so if I have to separate them I will I don't want babies I bought them when they were 4 mths old as water dogs I can't post pic
     

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