How Do Snakes Smell?

While snakes have both nostrils and nasal cavities, they do not use them to smell with. In fact, snakes smell through the combination of a specialised organ located in their oral cavity and a fl icking motion of their elongated tongue. The organ in question is referred to as the vomeronasal organ (or Jacobson’s organ) and is located in the roof of their oral cavity. Due to its internal positioning, the snake utilises its forked tongue to fl ick air particles from the surrounding environment into contact with it. From here the vomeronasal organ translates the smell into electrical signals to be sent to the snake’s brain, enabling it to determine whether prey or predators are in its locale. In addition, due to the tongue’s role as a smelling device, it is not used by snakes to aid the swallowing process.