Karen Raye Hart, age 10, of Gastonia, North Carolina, for her question:
Why does a snake have a forked tongue?
Some people cannot abide snakes of any sort and those forked tongues fill them with shuddering horror. These weird feelings go way back to the dawn of history, so let's be polite and considerate to those who detest the snakes. However, most modern young folk are learning to enjoy all the earth's creatures, including the snakes. We now know that in order to halt pollution, we must learn to enjoy living in harmony with the entire world of nature.
The study of nature coaxes us to see the world from many points of view. We learn that each type of animal copes with the world in his own way. We don't expect him to see things as we do because nature teaches him to solve the problems in his very special surroundings. The snakes live successful lives, even though they have no legs and are stone deaf. However, remember that they see things their way and regard us as neither friends nor enemies. However, about 200 of them are dangerous.
As summer approaches, we go on trips into the wild and some of us will visit different vacation places. Now is a good time to learn which dangerous snakes share our home states and also which ones we may expect to meet when we go on vacation. We can find this information, with helpful pictures, in our school and local libraries. Let's be sure we can spot the dangerous snakes before we settle down to admire the harmless ones. For example, a deadly rattler has a fascinating forked tongue. But let's dash off in the opposite direction without wasting one moment.
It is easier and a lot safer to snatch the same fascinating tongue at work in the mouth of a harmless snake. The long slender fork duets in and out of his mouth. No, it is not a threatening stinger. In fact, it is too soft to pierce skin or flesh and its owner takes care to protect it from any sort of rough treatment. Actually, that flicking forked tongue is taking quick samples of the air. The samples are analyzed when it pops back into the snake's mouth.
The air teems with tiny particles of this and that. They are too small to be seen, but some of them bring scents to our noses... And smells often tell us what things taste like. The snake has sensitive cells inside his mouth. They can detect certain interesting smells in the air samples. Some experts suspect that these cells also tell him what a nearby animal might taste like. Most likely they also detect gritty dust and perhaps particles of smoke in the air.
The fascinating tongue flicks in and out along a groove. Farther back on the floor of his mouth there is a little pit. This is where the snake tucks his tongue when he swallows. After all, he doesn't want it to be bruised by a victim struggling on his way down his expandable throat. Before we shudder at his inconsiderate table manners, let's remember this. His ways are not our ways. He does what he does because he belongs to the world of nature.