{"id":4728,"date":"2019-10-23T11:54:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T11:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/?p=4728"},"modified":"2019-10-23T11:58:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T11:58:59","slug":"clip-of-the-week-tropical-flat-snake-sensing-with-tongue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/23\/clip-of-the-week-tropical-flat-snake-sensing-with-tongue\/","title":{"rendered":"Clip of the Week &#8211; tropical flat snake sensing with tongue"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Clip of the Week<\/h3>\n<p><span>This week we have a tropical flat snake (<em>Siphlophis compressus<\/em>) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/stock-video\/tropical-flat-snake-(siphlophis-compressus)-sensing-with-its-tongue-orellana\/search\/detail-0_01626495.html\">sensing with its tongue<\/a>. It was filmed in Orellana Province, Ecuador by Morley Read.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/356187504?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/h3>\n<h3>&#8220;Smelling&#8221; with its tongue<\/h3>\n<p><span>Snakes use their tongues for collecting chemicals from the air or ground, though the tongue itself does not have chemoreceptors. Instead, these receptors are in the vomeronasal, or Jacobson\u2019s Organ, which is in the roof of the mouth. Once inside the Jacobson\u2019s Organ, different chemicals evoke different electrical signals which are relayed to the brain. The fact that the tongue is forked allows the snake to collect chemical information from two places at once, and allows them to follow a chemical gradient.\u00a0Snakes use neural circuitry to compare the signal strength delivered from each side of the body and determine the direction that a smell is coming from. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Morley found this snake on a logging road<\/h3>\n<p><span>&#8220;I encountered the tropical flat snake while conducting a survey of reptiles and amphibians along a road cut by an oil company through the pristine rainforest of Yasuni National Park. I have encountered large numbers of dead snakes on this road since it was open to traffic in 1994, and road mortality has certainly been responsible for the decline of many species, most notably the rainbow boa (<em>Epicrates cenchria<\/em>) and whip snakes (<em>Chironius<\/em>).&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery gallery-4728 style-scrollingstrip'><figure class='gallery-item col-0'><div class='gallery-icon landscape'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955.jpg\" class=\"attachment-gallery-strip-thumb size-gallery-strip-thumb\" alt=\"Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) in Heleconius flower, French Guiana.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-360x240.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-375x250.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01464955-159x106.jpg 159w\" sizes=\"100vw\" title=\"Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) in Heleconius flower, French Guiana.\" \/><\/div><div class=\"gallery-overview-caption\"><strong>Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) in Heleconius flower, French Guiana.<\/strong> by Daniel Heuclin<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure><figure class='gallery-item col-0'><div class='gallery-icon landscape'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768.jpg\" class=\"attachment-gallery-strip-thumb size-gallery-strip-thumb\" alt=\"Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) captive, from South America\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-768x404.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-320x168.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-375x197.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-600x315.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-900x473.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01295768-202x106.jpg 202w\" sizes=\"100vw\" title=\"Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) captive, from South America\" \/><\/div><div class=\"gallery-overview-caption\"><strong>Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) tongue, from South America<\/strong> by Michael D. Kern<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure><figure class='gallery-item col-0'><div class='gallery-icon landscape'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272.jpg\" class=\"attachment-gallery-strip-thumb size-gallery-strip-thumb\" alt=\"Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) Yasuni National Park, Amazon Rainforest, Ecuador. South America.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-360x240.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-600x399.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-320x213.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-375x249.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-900x599.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/01495272-159x106.jpg 159w\" sizes=\"100vw\" title=\"Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) Yasuni National Park, Amazon Rainforest, Ecuador. South America.\" \/><\/div><div class=\"gallery-overview-caption\"><strong>Tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) Yasuni National Park, Ecuador<\/strong> by Pete Oxford<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .gallery -->\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clip of the Week This week we have a tropical flat snake (Siphlophis compressus) sensing with its tongue. It was filmed in Orellana Province, Ecuador by Morley Read. &#8220;Smelling&#8221; with its tongue Snakes use their tongues for collecting chemicals from the air or ground, though the tongue itself does not have chemoreceptors. Instead, these receptors&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/23\/clip-of-the-week-tropical-flat-snake-sensing-with-tongue\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"button\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4728"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4765,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728\/revisions\/4765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}