Snakes Don't Have Ears But They Can Hear You Scream, Study Says

Experts have long known that snakes can feel sound vibrations, but they recently discovered that they could also hear airborne sounds.

Snakes Can Hear

A new research study found out that snakes can hear and they use it to interpret the world. The study dispelled the myth that snakes are deaf and don't hear airborne sounds. They can actually hear even without external ears and eardrums, Cosmos noted.

The researchers collected 19 different snakes from seven different species. They found out that snakes hear and have different reactions to what they hear.

Snakes use their sense of sight and taste to sense their environment. However, the new study revealed that their sense of hearing also plays a crucial role in their sensory repertoire.

Dr. Christina Zdenek, a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, Australia, collaborated with the Queensland University of Technology's School of Creative Practice to fit snakes into a soundproof room and test them one by one.

They used silence as their control and played one of three sounds, each including a range of frequencies: 1-150Hz, 150-300Hz and 300-450Hz. For comparison, the human voice range is about 100-250Hz, and birds chirp at about 8,000Hz.

They want to know how multiple snakes respond to sounds in an open space or where they can move freely. They used an accelerometer to determine whether the sounds produced ground vibrations to ensure that the snakes were registering airborne sounds and not just feeling the sound vibrations.

The study debunks the myth that snakes are deaf because they can hear low frequencies below 600Hz. According to Zdenek (via The Conversation), they probably hear muffled versions of what people do, .

The researchers played human voice a bout 100-250H at a 1.2-meter distance from the snake at 85 decibels and they responded. So the researchers concluded that snakes could hear people speaking loudly or screaming. Normal conversations are about 60 decibels. It doesn't mean snakes can't hear them, they probably do but not just at the same noise level.

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How Did The Snakes Respond To The Sound?

Snakes exhibited different reactions during the sound trials. For instance, Woma pythons (Aspidites ramsayi) - a non-venomous snake found throughout Australia's arid interior - significantly increased their movements in response to the sound and they actually approached it. They showed interest, exhibiting the "periscoping" behavior, in which snakes raise the front third of their body, suggesting curiosity.

In contrast, Acanthophis (death adders), Oxyuranus (taipans) and Pseudonaja (brown snakes) moved away from the sound. Their reaction signaled avoidance behavior.

Death adders, which are ambush predators, who wait for their prey to come to them using their tails by wiggling them like a worm, also keep themselves away from the sound. They cannot travel quickly and survival for them is avoiding being trodden by large vertebrates, including kangaroos, wombats or humans.

On the other hand, brown snakes and taipans, which are active foragers and pursue their prey, exhibited acute senses. Taipans, in particular, displayed defensive and cautious behavior when they heard the sound.

The results of the study were published in PLOS ONE.