kedreeva:I’m here today to talk about heat pits.Snake eyes do not “see” heat. They do not have infra
kedreeva:I’m here today to talk about heat pits.Snake eyes do not “see” heat. They do not have infrared “vision.” What SOME of them DO have are heat pits, which allows them to sense heat wavelengths, sometimes from several meters away. To be clear, NOT all snakes can sense heat, because not all snakes have heat pits, and not all heat pits are created equal. What differentiates a true viper from a pit viper is…. you guessed it, heat pits.In the image above, the black arrow indicates the snake’s nostril, and the red arrow points to its heat pit (one on each side of its face). Other snakes, like most pythons, have multiple pits along their lips:Both Green Tree Pythons and emerald tree boas have multiple heat pits along their lips, in different locations:Their ability to sense heat comes from these pits, and the pit organ associated with them (much like their jacobson’s organ is an accessory olfactory organ for additional “smell” particles), NOT their eyes. Their eyes are not involved in their ability to sense heat; they are light-sensing organs like any other eyes.Heat pits in pythons and boas evolved separately than the heat pits in vipers, and the difference in evolution has given pit vipers a much “better” (or perhaps, a more accurate) organ; they are able to strike accurately using only their pit organ’s input for guidance, where as most other snakes often rely at least partially on eyesight to aid in striking. What’s interesting is that heat pits are not only used for sensing prey. They also help snakes to find warmer or colder locations for thermoregulation, and can aid the snake in sensing when predators approach. -- source link