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Infrared sensing snakes use pit organs extensively to detect and target warm-blooded prey such as rodents and birds. Blind or blindfolded rattlesnakes can strike prey accurately in the complete absence of visible light, [13] [14] though it does not appear that they assess prey animals based on their body temperature. [15]
Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 Ma ago. The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene epoch (c. 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event).
The sensitivity of these pits allows them to detect temperature differences as small as one-third of a degree Fahrenheit. Other infrared-sensitive snakes, such as those in the Boidae family, possess multiple smaller labial pits along the upper lip, just below the nostrils. [51] Snakes rely heavily on their sense of smell to track prey.
They are distinguished by the presence of a heat-sensing pit organ located between the eye and the nostril on both sides of the head. Currently, 23 genera and 155 species are recognized: [4] These are also the only viperids found in the Americas. The groups of snakes represented here include rattlesnakes, lanceheads, and Asian pit vipers.
Activation of TRPV1-S channels in the TG may then suggest a similar mechanism (as seen in IR-sensing snakes) for how infrared sensing may work in vampire bats. Trigeminal nerves which innervate specialized temperature sensitive receptors on the nose-leaf may in turn activate TRPV1-S channels in the TG in response to infrared thermal radiation. [5]
RELATED: Snakes where they aren't supposed to be. For the study, Dinets, the lead author and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, observed and studied the reptiles ...
4 Snake Heat Detection Experiments. 2 comments. 5 Electroreception. 2 comments. 6 Vasculature. 1 comment. Toggle the table of contents. Talk: Infrared sensing in ...
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