IT MAKES 'SENSE'
Snakes use their senses to hunt, escape danger, and to find a mate.
Since snakes have very poor eyesight their other senses need to make up for it.
Some snakes can smell with their noses but ALL snakes smell with their tongues. When a snake sticks out its tongue it smells its surroundings. The moist tongue collects scents and small organisms from whatever it touches and from the air around it. When the tongue goes back into the mouth the forks touch a special sensory spot called the Jacobson's organ on the roof of the mouth and tells the snake what it smells. Snakes have a small notch in their lips that they can stick their tongues through so they don’t need to open their mouths.
Snakes can absorb vibrations through the ground and determine the size of the prey or danger by its movements.
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"I smell you!"
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Photo
Source: National Geographic Photo Gallery
Photographer: Bates Littlehales |
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