These Animals Have the Best and Worst Sense of Taste

Varying from tasting superpowers to almost a complete lack of flavor sense, these animals run the gamut.

By Allison Futterman
Oct 1, 2024 3:00 PM
whale-tounge
(Credit: John Tunney/Shutterstock)

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Humans derive their sense of taste from tastebuds, which allow us to identify bitter, salty, sour, and sweet. In 1990, umami was identified as the fifth taste. Many animals also get their sense of taste through tastebuds, although there are other methods in the animal kingdom for identifying taste. Let’s take a look. 

What Animals Have the Best and Worst Sense of Taste?

(Credit: MEDIAIMAG/Shutterstock)

The animal with the best sense of taste is the catfish. Possessing over 100,000 (and in some cases up to 175,000) taste buds, also called receptors, catfish are sometimes referred to as swimming tongues. They have a widespread distribution of taste receptors, including receptors in their mouths, on their skin, fins, and whiskers.

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