3/12/2023 0 Comments Call of the sea organ puzzleAristotle believed the forked tips provided snakes a “twofold pleasure” from taste – a view mirrored centuries later by French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède, who suggested the twin tips could adhere more closely to “the tasty body” of the soon-to-be snack.Ī 17th-century astronomer and naturalist, Giovanni Battista Hodierna, thought snakes used their tongues for “picking the dirt out of their noses … since they are always grovelling on the ground.” Others contended the tongue captured flies “with wonderful nimbleness … betwixt the forks,” or gathered air for sustenance. Snake tongues are so peculiar they have fascinated naturalists for centuries. These reptiles eventually returned to the surface, but it wasn’t until the extinction of dinosaurs many millions of years later that they diversified into myriad types of modern snakes.Īs an evolutionary biologist, I am fascinated by these bizarre tongues – and the role they have played in snakes’ success. It was during this period that these proto-snakes evolved one of their most iconic traits – a long, flicking, forked tongue. Without light, their vision faded, but to take its place, an especially acute sense of smell evolved. Here they evolved long, slender bodies and reduced limbs to negotiate the narrow nooks and crevices beneath the surface. Perhaps to avoid being trampled by their giant kin, some of these early lizards sought refuge underground. Read the original article, which was published June 16, 2021.Īs dinosaurs lumbered through the humid cycad forests of ancient South America 180 million years ago, primeval lizards scurried, unnoticed, beneath their feet. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |