Sweet sap, savory ants

Woodpeckers taste sweet, but wrynecks-unusual woodpeckers that specialize on ants-lost the ability to taste sugars. Great spotted woodpecker ( Dendrocopos major ). By repurposing their savory receptors, woodpeckers are able to detect sugar in sap, nectar or fruit. Jan Andersson (Macaulay Library ML211906341) - Many mammals have a sweet tooth, but birds lost their sweet receptor during evolution. Although hummingbirds and songbirds independently repurposed their savory receptor to sense sugars, how other birds taste sweet is unclear. Now, an international team lead by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (in foundation) shows that woodpeckers also regained sweet taste. Interestingly, wrynecks, specialized ant-eating woodpeckers, selectively reversed this gain through a simple and unexpected change in the receptor.