Snakes hear in stereo?

[stephanbakir]

Taken from "http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/physik_astronomie/bericht-100983.html"

Physicists from the University Munich in Germany and the University of Topeka, Kansas have strong new evidence that snakes can hear through their jaws. Snakes don't have outer ears, leading to the myth that they can't hear at all.

But they do have complete inner ear systems, including functional cochlea, which are carefully connected to and stimulated by their lower jaw. Resting on the ground, a snake's jaw can detect vibrations as small as an angstrom in amplitude (a motion roughly as large the diameter of a single atom), which act like sound waves to the inner ear.
The physicists performed a geometric study of the anatomy of horned desert vipers as well as the ground waves created by the footfalls of their prey. They showed mathematically that the jaw-to-cochlea system is sensitive to the frequencies of the prey's ground vibrations.
From their analysis, the physicists also found that the snake's notorious ability to unhinge their jaws and swallow their prey whole means that the right and left side of their jaws can receive vibrations independently, and the snakes hear in stereo.





The paper provides data supporting the theory that as the cochlea is stimulated, the snake’s auditory neurons create a topological map of its environment. Thus, as experiments have shown, some snakes can catch their prey using only vibration cues.
The physicists believe their study shows that ground vibrations to the lower jaw should be regarded as a significant source of sensory input for the snakes, and that this finding strongly supports the idea of the auditory stimulation creating a neural map. - CC

[Damion930]

Thanx for sharing that that's purdy cool

[Xochiquetzal]

very interesting

[marvelfreak]

Thanks for sharing! That is so cool.

[Jenn_06]

Cool maybe that's why Isis and Sassy looks out of the cage when i first step foot in my room.

[youngster]

Yeah now that I think of it when I was watching South Park last night little Sage came out of his hide and investigated. It didn't seem like there was too much bass either.

[Aaran]

Originally Posted by youngster

yeah now that i think of it when i was watching south park last night little sage came out of his hide and investigated. It didn't seem like there was too much bass either.

timmy!!!!!

[KrazyKat]

That's really fascinating!! Thanks for sharing that Stephan Just goes to show how much we have yet to understand about these amazing animals.

[Will0W783]

Thanks for posting that Stephan. I was aware that snakes could sense vibrations, but not that they did it through their jaws.