Tongues are a common feature among tetrapod animals, but the evolution of this organ is complex and fascinating. Through time, tongues have evolved a wide variety of functions from feeding to sensing to speech. This episode, we’ll explore the diversity of tongues and their bony counterparts in the hyoid apparatus, we’ll examine what’s known about tongue evolution, and we’ll discuss how fossils – especially hyoids – help us interpret the tongues of extinct species.

In the news: dinosaur temperatures, ancient geomagnetism, Martian lake conditions, and splitting sea stars.

Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:08:15 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:39:55 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:24:05 Patron question: 02:02:40

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0