About how many taste buds does the average human tongue have?

A. 5000
B. 10000
C. 12000
D. 3000

Taste buds have very sensitive microscopic hairs called microvilli (say: mye-kro-VILL-eye). Those tiny hairs send messages to the brain about how something tastes, so you know if it’s sweet, sour, bitter, or salty. The average person has about 10,000 taste buds and they’re replaced every 2 weeks or so.