A new study reveals penguins are apparently incapable of tasting the fish they eat.

This baffling inability to taste fish is caused by penguins losing three of the basic five tastes during evolution.

Penguins can't enjoy the food they eat since they can't differentiate savory fish or sweet tasting fruit they can only taste two flavors: salty and sour, said Jianzhi "George" Zhang from the University of Michigan.

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Even if penguins love to eat fish, they do not possess the umami receptor genes to taste diverse flavors of food.

Researchers suggest the genes that store these taste receptors aren't present in penguins because the extreme weather and cold environment caused these genomes to disappear. Even if some species moved to warmer climates, they only know the tastes of salty and sour.

The taste receptors for the detection of sweetness, umami and bitter flavors are apparently sensitive to extreme cold temperatures unlike those of sourness and saltiness. This is the reason why these flavors are almost useless to penguins. And even if the penguins had them, they won't work in the bitter cold.

Researchers also note that penguin tongues are also anatomically different as they lack taste buds where the primary taste receptors are located. Since penguin tongues don't have receptors, they have stiff and sharp papillae covered by a thick, horny surface.

Penguins' tongues aren't used to taste their food but for catching fish and holding on to fishes as they feed. When penguins feed, they have a tendency to swallow their food whole, which makes the taste of a fish less of a concern for them.

This study was published in the Cell Press journal, Current Biology.

TagsStudy: Penguins Love Fish But Lost the Ability to Taste Them, penguins, taste receptors, study penguins lost bad taste fish