How does a king cobra see? How does a creature hear with no ears? And how does a snake smell with its tongue?
The king can’t see the royal purple—or any other color. Still, its eyesight is better than most snakes’. It’s good enough to see a moving person almost 330 feet (100 meters) away.
The snake focuses by moving the lens in and out, and can sleep with eyes open, seemingly alert.
With no external ears or eardrums, it’s understandable that until recently, experts maintained “Snakes are deaf.”
It turns out that king cobras do hear, however. Sounds travel from the skin to the jaw muscle to the quadrate bone next to the ear bone. From there they pass to the inner ear. Nevertheless, response to a snake charmer’s flute is due to visual cues.
It turns out that king cobras do hear, however. Sounds travel from the skin to the jaw muscle to the quadrate bone next to the ear bone. From there they pass to the inner ear. Nevertheless, response to a snake charmer’s flute is due to visual cues.
Taste and smell merge for most snakes, thanks to the way their tongue and Jacobson’s organ work together. By flicking its tongue, a snake brings odors in to ‘nostrils’ inside the mouth. These nostrils lead to the Jacobson’s organ, two cavities lined with sensitive nerve endingsthe king can even smell water at a distance.
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