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Forked tongues have evolved in these squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) for various purposes. The advantage to having a forked tongue is that more surface area is available for the chemicals to contact and the potential for tropotaxis. [5] The tongue is flicked out of the mouth regularly to sample the chemical environment.
The snake is in fact responding to the movement of the flute, not the sound it makes, as snakes lack external ears (though they do have internal ears). [ 131 ] The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 in India technically prohibits snake charming on the grounds of reducing animal cruelty.
Unlike humans and other mammals, snakes do not possess an outer ear, a middle ear, and a tympanum but have an inner ear structure with cochleas directly connected to their jawbone. [95] They are able to feel the vibrations generated from the sound waves in their jaw as they move on the ground.
Legless lizards have broad, fleshy tongues, dissimilar from the forked tongues of snakes. Most legless lizards have external ears. Ventral scales are in a paired series. Unbroken tails in legless lizards are much longer than the body, whereas snake bodies are longer than their tails. Can vocalise, snakes can not.
Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung.
Boa constrictors have also been hunted for their meat and skins, and are a common sight at markets within their geographic range. After the reticulated python , boa constrictors are the snake most commonly killed for snakeskin products, such as shoes, bags, and other items of clothing. [ 10 ]
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The part of the body beyond the cloacal scale is considered to be the tail. [13] Sometimes snakes have enlarged scales, either single or paired, under the tail; these are called subcaudals or urosteges. [22] These subcaudals may be smooth or keeled as in Bitis arietans somalica.