The woodpeckers tongue is so long(in many cases as long as the woodpecker itself), that it is not attached to the woodpecker's head as in most birds, but instead it curls back up around its skull, allowing it to be so long. Once the woodpecker locates an insects tunnel in a tree, it worms its tongue into the tunnel to try to locate the grub. The tongue of the woodpecker is long and ends in a barb. With its tongue the woodpecker skewers the grub and draws it out of the trunk.

Several adaptations combine to protect the woodpecker's brain is from the substantial pounding that the pecking behavior causes: it has a relatively thick skull with relatively spongy bone to cushion the brain; there is very little cerebrospinal fluid in its small subarachnoid space; the bird contracts mandibular muscles just before impact, thus transmitting the impact past the brain and allowing its whole body to help absorb the shock; and its relatively small brain is less prone to concussion than other animals'.

When scientists first started capturing specimens of deep-sea Anglerfish, they noticed that all of the specimens were females. Almost all of them had what appeared to be parasites attached to them. It turned out that these "parasites" were the remains of male Anglerfish. The males have no digestive system, and thus are unable to feed independently. They must find a female quickly after hatching, or they will die. When he finds a female, he bites into her flank, and releases an enzyme which digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood vessel level. The male then atrophies into nothing more than a pair of gonads that release sperm in response to hormones in the female's bloodstream indicating egg release.

Whale fall is the term used for a whale carcass that has fallen to the ocean floor. When a whale dies in shallow water, its carcass is typically devoured by scavengers over a relatively short period of time - within several months. However, in deeper water (depths of 2000m or greater), fewer scavenger species exist, and the carcass can provide sustenance for a complex localized ecosystem over periods of decades or even centuries. Whale falls are often inhabited by large colonies of tubeworms. Over 15 previously unknown species have been discovered at whale falls. Marine biologists sometimes transport dead whales that have washed up on coastlines, towing them offshore to create a whale fall at a known location that can then be studied over a long period of time.

Animals in the phylum Chordata, which includes all vertebrates (fish, amphibians, lizards, birds, and mammals) as well as several closely related invertebrates are the only animals that have tongues. The tongue is considered the first organ in the digestive system.