Newsletter / Blog
2012-03-10 What bird has longest tongue relative to body size?
The Wrynecks at two-thirds of its body
length excluding the tail.
The Wrynecks - genusJynx - are a small but distinctive
group of small Old World Woodpeckers.
There are two
species – Eurasian Wryneck - Jynx torquilla and Red-throated Wryneck - Jynx
ruficollis
Description
Wrynecks have
large heads, long tongues which they use to extract their insect prey and
zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backwards. However,
they lack the stiff tail feathers that the true woodpeckers use when climbing
trees, so they are more likely than their relatives to perch on a branch rather
than an upright trunk.
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