World Snake Day Facts: Snakes stick out their tongues again and again, but this is not to scare anyone. Actually, this is very important for snakes. Just as humans use their eyes, nose and ears to monitor the things around them, similarly a snake uses its tongue to understand its surroundings.
With their tongue they catch scent particles present in the air and this also helps them to know about the prey, the path and the danger.
All snakes have a vomeronasal organ, sometimes called a Jacobson organ. This special organ located on the upper part of the snake’s mouth works for smelling. Then these microscopic chemical particles help in understanding by the snake’s brain. The tongue very quickly searches for these particles from air, water or ground and transports them to the Jacobson organ. The organ then transmits this information to the brain, which interprets the message and the snake then behaves accordingly.
The structure of the lips of snakes is special, due to which their tongue is able to taste the air continuously without opening the mouth.
Another reason for snakes to stick out their tongue is food. As everyone knows that snakes depend on other creatures for their food. Therefore, to hunt other creatures, they try to locate them with their tongue. Let us tell you that the ability to see of a snake is very less. This is why they use their tongue to protect themselves and hunt.
The snake’s tongue is divided lengthwise into two parts in the middle, through which they can assess the situation in all four directions. Helps the snake feel three-dimensional. Both ends of the tongue pick up scents from different directions, allowing snakes to know very precisely which direction a scent is coming from and how far away it is.
