Scientist made this discovery by comparing the genomes of 15 different species of whale and looking at the genes that control taste. The animals still have the genes to taste, but it has become a pseudogene, meaning its a lingering gene for a trait that has been forgotten. The proteins on the tongues of these animals all have stopped working except that of those that taste salt. However, this is ok because whales tend to swallow their food whole with out chewing it, and chewing is what causes the taste.
Link: http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/05/whales-cant-taste-anything-salt
NOS Theme:
Science is based on evidence- They looked at the genomes
Role of Curiosity- The scientists wanted to know about the whales tasting
It is very interesting that although whales cannot taste the salt, it does not have an impact on them. Do you think that they may lose the ability to taste other things over time? As the trait is a pseudogene, will it eventually disappear completely? We often think that we like to eat certain things because they taste better than others, Is this loss of taste beneficial to whales when they don't have a say in what they're going to eat? Does it even matter to the whales?
ReplyDeleteIts very interesting that they lost only 4 of the 5 tastes. It makes me wonder why they didn't lose the ability to taste salt when they lost all the other ones. It also makes me wonder if whales will eventually lose the taste of salt as well and have no taste at all.
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