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The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.
Experts have long understood that snakes can sense sound vibrations through the ground, which we call “tactile” sensing. react sound.
A new paper published in PLOS ONE concludes that snakes use hearing to help interpret the world, finally dispelling the myth that snakes are deaf to sounds in the air. increase.
Our study of 19 species of snakes from 7 species revealed that not only do snakes have airborne hearing, but that different species respond differently to snake hearing.
How Snakes Respond to Airborne and Groundborne Sound
Although seeing and tasting (air) are the primary ways snakes perceive their environment, our study highlights that hearing still plays an important role in the snake’s sensory repertoire.
This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Snakes are susceptible to predators such as monitor lizards, cats, dogs, and other snakes. Hearing is an important sense for both predator avoidance and injury avoidance (such as being trampled).
For our experiment, we worked with the Queensland University of Technology’s Creative Practice School to set up a soundproof room and test one snake at a time.
Using silence as a control, we played one of three sounds, each containing frequencies ranging from 1 to 150 Hz, 150 to 300 Hz, and 300 to 450 Hz. By the way, the human vocal range is about 100-250Hz, and the singing of birds is about 8,000Hz.
In one previous study, researchers hung a diamondback rattlesnake (scary rattlesnake) in steel mesh baskets, we observed restricted behavior in response to sound frequencies between 200 Hz and 400 Hz. In another example, researchers surgically implanted electrodes into the brains of partially anesthetized snakes and detected electrical potentials in response to sounds up to 600Hz.
However, our study is the first to investigate how multiple snake species respond to sound in freely mobile space. They also used accelerometers to detect if the sound produced ground vibrations. In this way, we confirmed that the snakes were actually recording sounds in the air, not just feeling ground vibrations.
Do snakes approach or recede from sounds?
Most snakes exhibited a very different type of behavior in healthy trials compared to controls.
Common python (aspidite ramsai) – a non-venomous snake found in the dry inland of Australia – greatly increased movement in response to sound and actually approached. They exhibited an interesting behavior called “periscope”. This involves the snake lifting its front third of its body in a way that suggests curiosity.
In contrast, the other three genera – Acantphis (Death Adder), oxiranus (taipan) and pseudonyre (Brown Snake) – likely to move away from the sound, indicating potential avoidance behavior.
Death adders are ambush predators. They wait for prey with tail lures (wiggling like worms), but they cannot move quickly. So it makes sense they stayed away from the sound. For them, survival means avoiding being trampled by large vertebrates such as kangaroos, wombats and humans.
Brown snakes and taipans are active foragers that rapidly pursue prey during the day. This means they may be vulnerable to daytime predators such as raptors. In our experiments, both of these snakes appeared to have keen senses. Taipans in particular could exhibit defensive and wary behavior in response to sound.
Can snakes hear us?
Our research further debunks the myth that snakes are deaf. They can hear, but not as well as you and I. A snake can only hear low frequencies, roughly below the 600Hz mark, but most of us can hear a much wider range. Snakes are probably hearing a muffled version of what we do.
So can snakes hear us? Human voices have a frequency of about 100-250 Hz, depending on gender. Sounds played in the test contained these frequencies and were played at 85 decibels at a distance of 1.2 m from the snake. This is about loud voice amplitude.
The snakes in our study responded to this sound, and many responded markedly. Therefore, it is safe to say that snakes can hear people talking and shouting loudly. This doesn’t mean you can’t hear someone speaking (a normal conversation is around 60 decibels). Sound has not been tested at this noise level.
This article originally appeared on The Conversation. Please read the original article.
