Research

Why do poisonous snakes need "horns" on their heads?

The heads of lizards, snakes and other reptiles are oftenare equipped with thorns. In each animal, they perform their own specific role - for example, chameleons use their "horns" when sorting out relations with other individuals. Lizards of some species have nasal growths that help them hide from predators and at the same time attract the attention of members of the opposite sex. Snakes can also be horned, but in their case, researchers cannot answer exactly why they are needed. There are especially many horned creatures among the viper snakes (Viperidae), which are poisonous and dangerous to almost all other animals and people. Recently Arab herpetologists studied data on 263 species of vipers and made some interesting discoveries.

In the photo: one of the representatives of the horned vipers (Cerastes)

Herpetology - This is a branch of zoology, in which amphibians and reptiles are studied. In some cases, the science of studying amphibians is called batrachology, and the study of snakes - serpentology.

How do snakes disguise themselves?

Exact information about why some snakeshave growths on the head, no. But there are many hypotheses that can explain their unusual appearance. Depending on the type of snake, they can play a large role in finding a mating partner or protecting the eyes from leaves and sand while in motion. But most often snakes need horns on their heads for camouflage. The growths can attract the attention of their victims so much that they lose their vigilance and become even easier prey.

However, vipers are good at camouflaging even without horns.

Growths on the viper's head

Most often, vipers have horns on their heads andclose relatives. Moreover, the formations on the head are often located in different places. For example, some species of vipers have horns on their heads, while others have horns just above their eyes. Recently, Arab scientists Theo Busschau and Stephane Boissinot decided to put forward the theory that the location of the horns on the head of snakes depends on where they live. To test their hypothesis, they conducted a study, the results of which were published on the bioRxiv website.

Snakes with horns on the nose and above the eyes

In the course of scientific work, the researchers studieddata on 263 species of vipers. They paid much attention to which of them has growths on the head and where they usually live. The researchers also studied the diet of poisonous predators. It turned out that 35 species of viper snakes have noticeable horns on their heads. In 21 of them, sharp formations are located above the eyes, and in 14 - on the nose.

As a result of observations, scientists made the following conclusions:

  • snakes with horns on the nose most often live in the forest;
  • snakes with horns over their eyes live in shrubs, rocky areas and deserts.

Read also: The most beautiful snakes in the world settled at the San Francisco airport

Features of the life of poisonous snakes

Due to the fact that the location of the horns depends onhabitats of reptiles, scientists decided that they are mainly needed for camouflage. For example, the structure on the nose can help forest-dwelling snakes to merge with fallen leaves and branches. And the growths above the eyes can help desert snakes hide among stones and sand. The existing horns clearly distort the appearance of predators - potential victims pay more attention to growths, and the eyes of dangerous creatures often remain invisible. Of course, all these are only assumptions, but they sound very convincing.

Disguise of the Arabian Horned Viper (Cerastes gasperettii)

A clear relationship between diet andthe location of the horns on the head could not be found. Researchers have only noticed that reptiles with horns on their noses often hunt frogs and toads. But this can be explained by the fact that snakes with such features live in forests, where there are simply more amphibious creatures than in deserts and other places.

Arabian horned viper in natural habitat

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Despite the fact that snakes are almostin every corner of our planet and there are a lot of them, they are still poorly studied by science. Consequently, scientists often study them and make interesting discoveries. We write about this on a regular basis, so if you have free time, I recommend reading the article on flying kites - in 2020, researchers figured out how they fly. I also talked about why some snakes spit poison - here is the link.