Marc Samet, age 10, of~High Point, No. Carolina, for his question:

Why do frogs have such long tongues?

Each animal is designed to take care of himself and make its own way in the world. Certainly he must be talented enough to find suitable food and to feed himself. This is why the frog has an unusually long tongue. One of the favorite items on his menu is fly meat but flies as we know are not the easiest creatures to catch.

One end of the frog's long tongue is attached where his lower front teeth would be, if he had lower front teeth. Most of the time he keeps it coiled back inside his mouth and closes his mouth with a froggy smile. As he squats very quietly, he watches for insects flying by. When a fly comes within range, his long tongue whips out and grabs it. In less than a second, the fly is flicked into the frog's mouth and gulped down the hatch. And the remarkable tongue coils up and waits for the next snack to pass by.