"It is often believed that snakes cannot hear. This presumption is fed by the fact that snakes lack an outer ear and that scientific evidence of snakes responding to sound is scarce. Snakes do, however, possess an inner ear with a functional cochlea.
In a recent article in Physical Review Letters* scientists from the Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany, and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) present evidence that snakes use this structure to detect minute vibrations of the sand surface that are caused by prey moving. Their ears are sensitive enough to not only “hear” the prey approaching, but also to allow the brain, i.e., the auditory system, to localize the direction it is coming from."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221105350.htm
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Astronomy Picture of the Day
