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Nobody is quite sure what it actually does. It seems to be a second nasal passage, and when the cat is inhaling it can direct the air flow through that passage rather than the normal one. (When it does this, its expression changes and its ears go back slightly.) It is believed that this brings a distinct set of scent sensors into play, possibly more sensitive, possibly able to detect a different family of scents, but we have no real idea.
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What organ does a snake pick up on its tongue and carry the slightest scent?
The Jacobson's organ, or scientifically speaking, the Vomeronasal organ.
What is an animal nose called?
Vomeronasal organ
What animal is most likely to have a sixth sense called a Jacobson organ?
The vomeronasal organ in many animals is able to detect chemical smells like pheromones that attract animals to mate with each other. While many animals have a well developed vomeronasal organ - lemurs, snakes, and elephants, for instance - some other animals, like humans do not.
How does the mouse respire?
Cats have a pair of vomeronasal organs on the roof of their moth that help them sniff out a particular scent. Usually cats do not breathe through their mouth.
What is the tongue of a snake used for?
The tongue is used to capture the air particles around the snake. It (the tongue) is rubbed on a small organ in the roof of the mouth called "vomeronasal organ", or "Jacobson's organ. From this the snake can perceive if there is prey or predators around it
What is a snakes tongue used for?
The snake uses its tongue as part of its system of perception. It's called the vomeronasal system because of its close proximity to the nasal system and the vomer bone at the front of the skull. The vomeronasal system is a sensory organ and it's made up of two small openings in the roof of the mouth.
Why are lizards smelly?
It is normal for all reptiles (acidifying particles up nostrils) except snakes and lizards, who lash out their tongues, and pick up particles, where they go to their vomeronasal organ.(AKA Jacobson's organ). Look it up for more.
Do cobras have a good sense of smell?
Sorta no and kinda yes They use there tongue to smell Snakes do not smell with their tongue, nor do they taste the air. Snakes have no sense of taste. They can use their nostrils to smell (the same olfactory sense we have), as well as vomeronasal or Jacobson's organs located at the roof of their mouth. Scent molecules are collected on each fork of the tongue (by the way, their forked tongue lets them know where the thing they are smelling is-left or right). The tongue is brought back into the mouth, and is brushed up against the vomeronasal organ, where the information is sent to the brain. The vomeronasal organ can be thought of as a more sophisticated sense of smell. It is found in some humans and apes, as well as horses and an array of other animals.
Many mammals such as cats can detect chemicals in the air with their Jacobson's organ Where is this organ?
Roof of the Mouth
What special sensory organ do cats have?
Scent Glands
What are the Holes in the back of mouth?
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/299124/Jacobsons-organan organ of chemoreception that is part of the olfactory system of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, although it does not occur in all tetrapod groups. It is a patch of sensory cells within the main nasal chamber that detects heavy moistureborne odour particles. Airborne odours, in contrast, are detected by the olfactory sensory cells located in the main nasal chambers. Some groups of mammals also initiate a behaviour known as the flehmen response, in which the animal facilitates the exposure of the vomeronasal organ to a scent or pheromone by opening the mouth and curling the upper lip during inhalation.This organ was named for its discoverer, Danish anatomist Ludvig Levin Jacobson, in 1811. It is a paired structure; in the embryo stages of all tetrapods, each half arises as an evagination of the floor of a nasal sac. In fully developed crocodilians, turtles, birds, cetaceans, and many advanced primates, this structure is absent or substantially underdeveloped. For most tetrapods that possess a Jacobson's organ, ducts connect the organ directly to the nasal cavity; however, in squamates (lizards and snakes) each organ opens on the roof of the buccal cavity (mouth). The tongue carries odour particles from the outside to the vomeronasal openings on the roof of the mouth, and the particles then move into the vomeronasal organ. After these particles reach the organ, some of the chemical compounds they contain bind to receptor molecules, and sensory messages are sent to the brain.The Jacobson's organ is useful in the process of communicating chemical messages, such as readiness for sexual activity, between members of the same species. The organ also helps snakes hunt and track their prey. Much evidence suggests that this organ may also be involved in the detection of chemical signals related to aggression and territoriality. See also chemoreception.George R. Zug
What is it when a tiger is phelming?
"Phelming" is actually called "flehming" or the "flehming response"- it's when a cat curls it's upper lip up to allow scent molecules, such as phermones access to an organ (vomeronasal organ) above the roof of the mouth & near the nose, which allows the animal to detrmine more specific factors regarding potentioal prey or a potential mate than just the nose alone is able to.
