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When we are talking about a snakes ability to sense what is around them, there are four senses that snakes use:
1. Smell: The most important sense. Snakes have a regular nose and they smell the way all other animals do, but they also have a second, highly developed smell sense (vomeronasal sense). The forked tongue picks up chemical traces, and then is inserted into the pits on the roof of the mouth (the Jacobsen's Organ). It's this organ that analyses the chemicals, not the tongue.
2. Heat (infrared): Particularly important for night-hunting snakes. Heat-detecting sensors are concentrated between their nostrils and eyes. These pits can differentiate between 0.02 of a degree. These sensors not only allow them to judge distance, but also give an "image" of the size and shape of the prey. This allows them to strike accurately at prey in the dark. There are some signs that snakes can superimpose an infrared (think "Predator") over a visual image. All night-hunting snakes have larger eyes and vertical pupils which enhance night vision.
3. Sight: Most snakes have good eyesight, but they do not hunt on sight alone. While some snakes see colour, most snakes do not.
4. Hearing: Snakes can hear, but this sense is nowhere near as developed as their other senses. Snakes don't have external ears, or even a middle ear. They have a small bone (columella) which connects the jawbone to the inner ear canals. The snake picks up sound through the skin which passes on to this jawbone.
Last edited by mykee; 10-16-03 at 09:39 PM..
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