Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This has probably been covered before, but if so, I can't find it in the forums...Anyhow, it's my understanding that snakes can't hear airborne sounds (or can barely hear at the extreme low end of the spectrum)...I also know from my own interaction with snakes that two very common defensive displays are loud hissing and tail vibrating...What I'm wondering is, if the snakes cannot hear their own hissing and rattling, how did this behavior evolve? I mean, how did an animal that lives in a world with no air borne sounds develop defenses that depend totally on air borne sound? If anyone could enlighten me, I'd really appreciate it...Thanks..

SR

From an evelutionary standpoint - snakes developed from reptiles that decided to go underground (probably why they lost their ears and limbs as they weren't of much use) and then came back to the surface (at least that's how I understand it). So the question is whether they develped those things before or after going to ground.

If it was before (and hissing is a pretty universal thing for animals) then it is just a carry over from the pre-above ground days.

If not...well, it's still possible. It's an instinct, not really a "learned" thing. And hearing, really, is just a matter of detecting vibrations. Our ears are just particularly sensitive and sophisticated to pick out sound vibrations. But, I imagine, the noise a snake makes internally can be "heard" to an extent, because their very body acts as a conduit for the vibrations. Deaf people can learn to speak (partially because they can feel the reverberations of the speech they make) but there is difficulty.

I'd say a snake can "hear" it's hiss...but not in any minute way...they can't exactly fine tune the sound, but they know they're doing something scary.

But I'm just speculating and rambling because I'm bored at work...so I'll just leave the floor to someone that actualy knows the answer
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One female Eastern Indigo. That's right, just one snake. But she's my dream-snake, so back off man.

But I think you're on the right track with the instinct and vibration theory. Also maybe some form of learned behavior. Snakes that shake their tail are in rattlesnake country most of the time. The smae way nonvenomous animals display venomous colors. That's a weirds one too.