Pit Vipers found to have Heat Seeking Fangs

www.physorg.com...

Well not literally that is ... But still really cool.

Call it a sixth sense, or evolution’s gift to these cold-blooded reptiles: some snakes have infrared vision. Also called “heat vision,” the infrared rays, which have longer wavelengths than those of visible light, signify the presence of warm-blooded prey in 3 dimensions, which helps snakes aim their attacks. Pit vipers and boids, the two snake types that possess this ability, have heat-sensitive membranes that can detect the difference in temperature between a moving prey—such as a running mouse—and its surroundings on the scale of milliKelvins.

The detection system, which consists of cavities located on each side of the head called “pit organs,” operates on a principle similar to that of a pinhole camera, explain scientists Andreas Sichert, Paul Friedel and J. Leo van Hemmen in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters. A pinhole camera is a camera without a lens, where light from an image passes through a very small hole. Similarly, a pit organ’s aperture is about 1 mm—large enough to allow the snake to quickly detect moving prey. Some scientists (de Cock Buning) even suggest that pythons—a type of boid—have a variety of differently shaped pit organs, each serving a different biological function.

This is just freaking crazy, and just serves to increase my already considerable respect for the Snakes(especially the Pit Vipers and Pythons ).

[edit on 31-8-2006 by sardion2000]

[edit on 31-8-2006 by sardion2000]

Chalk one more cool thing onto the list of what snakes can do.

I always sorta thought snakes has heatsensing membranes anyways,
so it's not suprisinf to me.

Good find Sardion.

Let it be said that nature is infinitely more complex than human beings can hope to be. I mean regardless if you believe in evolution or creation this is truly amazing. I just can't wait 'till our technology evolves more so that we are able to detect what other things nature has been using.