Penguins lost ability to taste fish

Penguins can taste only sour and salty food, scientists have discovered. A genetic study suggests the flightless birds lost three of the five basic tastes long ago in evolution. Taste is critical for survival in most animals, but may not matter in the penguin, which swallows fish whole, say researchers in China and the US. Many other birds are unable to taste sweet things, but they do have receptors for detecting bitter and umami (or meaty) flavours. The discovery was made when researchers decoding penguin genomes found some of the taste genes were missing. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Their behaviour of swallowing food whole, and their tongue structure and function, suggest that penguins need no taste perception” Prof Jianzhi Zhang University of Michigan A closer look at the DNA of penguins revealed that all species lack functioning genes for the receptors of sweet, umami, and bitter tastes.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31490623