The Lion’s Tongue…

Covered in sharp tiny spines called papillae and as rough as sand paper, the tongue of Africa’s largest cat, is an incredible fleshy organ that can literally lick the skin off you!!

Sometimes you can watch a lion using its tongue to lick away at the skin of a dead animal. This removes hair and also tenderizes the meat and in combination with its saliva, is an extremely effective means of assisting to start the digestion process even before the lion has ingested anything.

Furthermore the tongue is not only a great device for grooming one another and even removing thorns, but the papillae assist in taking in larger amounts of water when they drink!

Lions Tongue (2)