Study: Penguins have lost 3 of the 5 tastes
It's no wonder penguins swallow fish whole: They can't even taste them.
Scientists at the University of Michigan and Wuhan University in China found that penguins can taste sour and salty food, but all penguin species are unable to detect sweet, bitter, and umami tastes. The researchers discovered penguins lacked tastes when they were decoding penguin genomes and found that some of the animals' taste genes weren't present.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, suggests penguins lost these taste abilities during evolution long ago. "Their behavior of swallowing food whole, and their tongue structure and function, suggest that penguins need no taste perception," Jianzhi Zhang, lead author of the study, told BBC News.
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The researchers note that while tasting various flavors is critical for most animals' survival, penguins don't need taste to survive. They also believe penguins' environment is to blame: The animals can't process various tastes' brain signals as well at low temperatures, which may have led to taste loss over time.
