Many of you are probably wondering what do sand paper and slime have in common. Not much really. These aren’t exactly what my latest occupational hazards are they’re more descriptions for what I’m going to be discussing. For those of you that have a pet might have experience with these things…. animal tongues.
Bovine Tongues are Amazing!
Go ahead and laugh, but a cow’s tongue is a whole different ball game. Not only is my cow’s tongue 10x the size of your dogs it has a few different characteristics. A cow’s tongue isn’t smooth like ours, it has a texture similar to sandpaper. They are very rough and if they lick your bare skin they usually leave a red burn mark. My cheek wasn’t very happy after my heifer had a field day on it.
Another difference is that all cows can touch their nose with their tongue. Actually, the tongue is a rather important part of a cow’s body. They use their tongue to keep the nose clean. If they didn’t they would have a lot of slime hanging out of their nose constantly. This is probably a TMI moment (too much information for you non-texters), but hey, sometimes I wish I could touch my nose with my tongue.
The last neat fact about a cow’s tongue is something I have too much experience with. It’s difficult to feed calves without leaving with damp clothes. That’s because a cow and calf’s tongue can be very slimy and wet. Every time I think I’m in the perfect spot to avoid getting licked, they always surprise me and get me right on my bum!
this was pretty, pretty interesting. do they have bad breath? i grew up in a farm community, but i never got close enough to them to smell their breath. hmmm…
i’ve got to give an award for best photo caption to “bovine tongues are amazing!”
Thanks for the comment Joe! No, they don’t really have bad breath, but they do like to burp just like us.