These beautiful-looking animals have always amazed us with their skin and their body structure and how it functions.There seems to be a common belief regarding snake hearing that snakes are deaf. We seem to think so because, unlike us humans, these slithering reptiles do not have a dedicated ear-like organ for hearing. It makes us wonder, how do they respond to the snake charmer? We have all seen videos of snake charmers with their instruments and snakes responding to them.A snake as a reptile has been present on Earth for ages now. Researchers believe that snakes might have existed on the planet as early as the time of dinosaurs. They have, thus, undergone a massive evolutionary change in order to adapt with the changing environment. These changes have been both physiological as well as anatomical which have led to the overall development of these reptiles such as the elimination of an eardrum. However, snakes aren’t deaf, irrespective of the fact that they do not have any eardrums or an external ear structure like humans do. They hear via small openings on the sides of their heads behind their eyes. Snakes sense vibrations through their quadrate bones which helps them to hear any sound or noises around them.If you enjoy this article, why not also read about how to get rid of garter snakes and how to identify a baby copperhead snake here on Kidadl?How do snakes hear?Now that we know that snakes aren’t deaf even though they do not have ears like we or other animals do, the next question which pops up in our mind is, how do they hear? We have understood that a snake’s hearing system is very different from ours and that they perceive any sound via vibrations that they sense using their quadrate bones.Let’s dive deeper into snake hearing and how it actually happens. Every movement made or sound produced also produces sound waves on the ground, which snakes can perceive due to the inner ear which they have developed. This inner ear is directly connected to their jaw bones, also called the quadrate bone. As these reptiles move along the ground, this jaw bone of theirs connects to the surface and catches any forms of vibrations. This inner ear which snakes have developed over the years consists of a number of parts such as hair cells, a cochlear duct and some other parts as well. As these parts work together along with the jaw bone, snakes can conveniently feel sound waves and hear sounds. Interestingly, even though snakes have inner ears, they are quite developed and an average snake can hear a sound of 80-600 hertz.Do snakes have ears?Although snakes do not have external ears like any other animal, they can hear noises, even the slightest of noises, using a different hearing system that has developed in their body over the years. Instead of having eardrums or an external ear structure, these reptiles have an internal hair structure connected to their jaw bone to hear noises.This inner ear of theirs is linked to their jaw bone, which can feel vibratory sensations from the ground as they slither. Every noise has a particular sound wave and it is the function of the jaw bone or the quadrate bone to perceive this sound wave. Additionally, as the left and right sections of a snake’s jaw bone can function individually on their own, snakes have no problem understanding the direction of the noise. Not only can snakes easily distinguish between the direction of the noise, but they can also hear the human voice. The human voice is usually at a frequency of 250 Hz and an average snake can hear from 80-600 Hz. The ability to hear differs from snake to snake as some can hear up to 1,000 Hz.What can snakes hear?Snakes can hear air-borne sounds and sounds traveling via ground vibrations using their inner ear mechanism. Snakes are known to hear high or low pitch sounds in a range of 50-1,000 Hz but it is said that their peak sensitivity lies in the range of around 200-300 Hz. This makes it perfect for snakes to hear the human voice as the normal range at which humans talk is around 250 hertz.Humans can hear sounds from 20-20,000 Hz and snakes can hear up to 1,000 Hz. What we might think to be low sounds are the maximum that snakes can hear. For reference, a low volume cat purr is usually at 20-25 Hz and the highest note of a piano is somewhere around 4,100 Hz. Even though all snakes in the world have the same inner ear hearing system, chances are high that some snake species can hear more than others. Researchers believe that this could be possible as some snakes can develop stronger hearing power owing to the terrain they live in. Additionally, when it comes to snakes and snake charmers, people think that snakes can hear sounds created by a snake charmer using the instrument the pungi, but interestingly snakes do not respond to the noise. As the snake charmer and the pungi move, snakes think of them as a threat and respond accordingly. The python and the cobra are some common snakes used for this purpose, although snake charming is now considered illegal. It is thus a myth that snakes are hypnotized by snake charmers using the sound created from their instrument.Is a snake’s hearing sensitive?After a fair bit of research, scientists concluded that these reptiles lost effective pressure hearing with the absolute absence of a functioning outer and middle ear. However, at the same time, they possess an acute vibration sensitivity that may be used to communicate and detect their predators and prey.Snakes cannot hear very loud sounds as it is known that they can hear up to 1,000 hertz, but they can hear sounds as low as 50 Hz. Moreover, snakes are sensitive to low-frequency vibrations so they are better at hearing mostly earth-borne sound rather than aerial sound waves. Research is usually conducted on specific snake species like the python.Do loud noises scare snakes?Constant loud noises such as that of loud music or thumping footsteps can irritate and stress a snake more than scare it. If irritating noises are continued for a prolonged period of time, your snake can develop health problems.As a snake hears but perceives vibrations via its jaw bone, constant vibrations from loud noises can shock a snake. The same thing happens when you try to scare off a snake using loud footsteps; loud vibrations cause constant reactions in a snake’s body which scares it. Even the constant change of frequencies in some songs can put off a snake. If you listen to loud music with your pet snake nearby, it is better if you either wear headphones or put your snake in another room. Constant exposure to such loud music can lead to a visit to the vet.How can snakes hear sounds in the air?These reptiles can hear vibrations that are produced by airborne sounds, just like they perceive vibrations of sounds on the ground. They are more sensitive to noise via ground vibrations than air-borne noises. Research carried out by scientists suggests that snakes are able to detect some airborne frequencies just by using the inner ear.The entire mechanism is based on somatic hearing, i.e., when the airborne sound waves generated from a source strike the reptile’s body, some of the energy is transferred to the organs, bones, tissues and particularly the brain and lung of the snake. The snake’s hearing system, based on sensing vibrations, can then pick up on these vibrations and translate them from the rest of its body into fluid-borne vibrations. These fluid-borne vibrations are then eventually translated into nerve impulses. The entire process requires an integrated effort of the jaw bones and the inner ear and snakes heavily rely on this system to be aware of their prey.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for can snakes hear, then take a look at what do snake eggs look like or vine snake facts.
These beautiful-looking animals have always amazed us with their skin and their body structure and how it functions.
