[Karen W. (OP)]

Well do they? If so, are there certain places on their tongue that tastes sweet, sour bitter etc... like ours???

Can They distinquish between flavors! I am assuming so sense some animals eat meat and others eat vegetables.

[another_someone]

Animals do taste, but like vision, so with taste, what they taste is different.  I have heard that the cat family do not in general have a taste for sweetness, which is because sweet things are vegetable, and cats are strict carnivores.

[Karen W. (OP)]

That is exactly why I was thinking they may be able to decipher tastes of sorts.. but then I thought it might be texture thing too.. I just was not sure at all! That is interesting!
 
It baffles me as we had a dog who loved to eat the apples and fruit that fell from the trees in the summer and fall! he also loved meat of coarse onions radishes and jut about anything. He wouldn't eat turnips or peanut butter..

Another dog who was a bread thief and you could offer him a steak or a couple pieces of bread.. the bread always won.. he preferred it over the meat!  It was odd!

[SquarishTriangle]

he also loved meat of coarse onions radishes and jut about anything.

Karen, don't feed your dogs onion!

Onions are toxic to dogs and cats (and other species including cattle). A compound in them (n-propyl disulphide) injures the lipid membranes of red blood cells and denatures haemoglobin, causing the formation of "Heinz bodies", haemolytic anaemia and the excretion of haemoglobin in the urine. Even fairly small amounts of 5-10g per kg of body weight (0.5% bw) has toxic effects whether raw, cooked or dehydrated (although I'm not sure who dehydrates their onions). Garlic, being closely related to the onion, has similar effects, along with causing dermatitis and asthmatic attacks in dogs.

Anyway, (sidetrack) here's one of our working cats enjoying a little fluffy snack:


IMG_1512.jpg (119.48 kB . 600x450 - viewed 4232 times)

[Karen W. (OP)]

Thats really good advice, If I was giving him onions...LOL,  but this dog would dig them out of the ground and eat them.. he was a little Boston Terrier... he was an odd boy... I never fed them to him.. LOL but he did enjoy my garden on the years I planted not often as I was not as good as me mom. But I found it odd to see him crunching away on the onions and raw vegis out of the ground...

I will remember that and take more precautions, if I ever plant another garden or get another dog. He was 18 when he died.... He did good.

[Vcoolspice]

Of Course animals have taste buds! They are like people, if they don't like it, they spit it out. I have 3 very picky goats to prove my theory!!!   

[chris]

An interesting fact about chickens, however, is that unlike us they can eat chilli with impunity - indeed a vindaloo won't phase a rooster. The reason is that chickens lack the receptor - called TRPV1 - which is the chemical target for capsaicin, the spicy ingredient in chilli. This receptor is normally expressed on nerve fibres that sense pain and temperature, which explains why curry seems to trigger a burning sensation.

It's likely that birds like chickens are insensitive to the effect as they can provide a means of dispersal for the chilli seeds; in comparison the mammalian gut is far more corrosive, which reduces the seeds' prospects of survival - so the chilli plant came up with a way to ward us off...only it backfired a bit where curry is concerned, as will you, if you eat too much of it!

Chris

[another_someone]

only it backfired a bit where curry is concerned

Although it may have had unexpected consequences, I am not sure it can be said to have backfired, since it still does help the chilli plant, since (as with all animals and plants that have economic value for humans), humans do actively seek to sustain the growth of the plant.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

An interesting fact about chickens, however, is that unlike us they can eat chilli with impunity - indeed a vindaloo won't phase a rooster. The reason is that chickens lack the receptor - called TRPV1 - which is the chemical target for capsaicin, the spicy ingredient in chilli. This receptor is normally expressed on nerve fibres that sense pain and temperature, which explains why curry seems to trigger a burning sensation.

Is it why chickens will eat pretty much anything since for them everything tastes the same?

[chris]

You ask about other animals having tastebuds; here's what they look like in a fruit fly:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/how-flies-taste-salt