Mallory pondered on that. Something about a snakes eyes that involves magic.

She raised her hand once again. "Does it have anything to do with hypnosis at all?" she asked unsure. Muggles tend to think snakes hypnotize you with their eyes and lure you towards them.

"Well, the basilisk can kill or Petrify with its eyes," Gwen mused. "Are there other serpents that have special abilities with their eyes?"

"Moses made the Nehushtan, a bronze snake on a pole that when looked at cured the people of bites from the snakes that plagued them in the desert. Would that be a magical refrence to snakes?" I ask thinking back to one of the stories in the bible that my grandmother on my dad's side reads to me.

"Medusa was a gorgon, not a snake... she had snakes for hair, but her petrification power came from her eyes, not the snakes."

He was right about the Basilisk, but she wasn't going to point that out...

"Some, like the Ashwinder, have glowing red eyes. The Ashwinder itself comes out of magical fires and lives long enough to lay fiery hot eggs that can be used in potions. The Occamy on the other hand lays silver eggs."

"Two points for each, Indeed. Snakes can use magic or can have their magic manipulated by wizards and witches. Their eyes, in this case holds the key role in execution."


"Finn" Fabian murmured at the Hufflepuff seated next to Sana, "You better start calling me Sir or I'll start assigning you hours at Park 66. Trust me, you don't want them" he trailed off in a wicked smile.


Fabian clasped his hands again and continued "These are all good answers. And lets not forget the pit chambers some snake families have that allows them to see their surroundings via heat visions! Very well.. lets move on!"


"The third sense is smell, who can tell me how many systems snakes have to detect odor?"

Finn blushed. "Sorry, sir. I was a bit distracted by something else. It was not intended to be a slight." he winked over to Sana.

"Well snakes It smells by using its forked tongue to collect airborne particles then passing them to the Jacobson's organ or the Vomeronasal organ in the mouth for examination. The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort of directional sense of smell and taste simultaneously.The snake keeps its tongue constantly in motion, sampling particles from the air, ground, and water analyzing the chemicals found and determining the presence of prey or predators in its local environment." Ray replied

Cassandra's hand shot in the air again. "Snakes use smell to track their prey. It smells by using its forked tongue to collect airborne particles then passing them to the Jacobson's organ or the Vomeronasal organ in the mouth for examination. The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort of directional sense of smell and taste simultaneously. The snake keeps its tongue constantly in motion, sampling particles from the air, ground, and water analyzing the chemicals found and determining the presence of prey or predators in its local environment."

Jessy raised his hand. "Professor, The flicking tongue of a snake allows the snake to smell its environment, because the snake smells inside its mouth. The tongue grabs the odor particles and brings them into the mouth where they are transferred to the Jacobson’s organ, the main organ used by a snake for smelling."

"Their tounges pick up scents and passes them to a special organ in their mouths known as Jacobson's organ." I say as soon as the question was shot.

Mallory had a bit of pride earning two points. It was better than earning none. She continued scribbling down other information as the Professor asked another question.

She raised her hand again. "Snakes use their tongue to detect chemical scents. Molecules of any chemical are collected by the tongue, brought back into their mouth, and analyzed by the Jacobson's organ. This allows it to follow its prey effectively."

She giggled at him and said under her breath, "Just make right your robes.." but returned her attention to the class.

She was happy that Finn earned two points for her house. She winked back at him as he winked.

She raised her hand again, "Professor, Do they have similar like our smelling sense?"

Finn panicked and looked at his robes. "What's wrong with them?" He couldn't see anything. He began to hide himself as she was answering, hoping he was not spotted by the professor.

Rhiannon kept writing down notes. She would have answered on the last question, but the class was already on to the next before she could develop her answer. So she looks up at the snake at the front of the room, trying to figure out why its species was so interesting.

Ariana continued to scratch furiously on her arms as she tried to concentrate in class. It was difficult however, the sunglasses were making it diffucult to see professor Clark, and the annoying itchy sensations were causing her to not pay much attention to what he was saying. Determined not to give up and to try and give a coherent response she opened her mouth to reply, "Well professor..." she stopped suddenly as a small bird-like sound escaped her lips. She flinched, blushing scarlet as she looked around. "Sorry." She muttered, sinking in her seat and gulping.

She kept looking at the snake, a frightened feeling overwhelming her sometimes until she shook it off. She felt annoyance bubble up inside and sighed, twirling her quill around her fingers as she waited, trying to act like nothing had happened. She wished she could leave class and go lie down. Maybe she was coming down with a strange cold or something and all she needed was food and sleep. That would have to come later though, right now class was the only thing on her mind. That, and the itchy feeling that was now starting on her stomache.

Ray looked up at the girl that copied his answer. That's not fair! Ray thought to himself while he waited to see the professor's evaluation of his answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kami12

"Well snakes It smells by using its forked tongue to collect airborne particles then passing them to the Jacobson's organ or the Vomeronasal organ in the mouth for examination. The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort of directional sense of smell and taste simultaneously.The snake keeps its tongue constantly in motion, sampling particles from the air, ground, and water analyzing the chemicals found and determining the presence of prey or predators in its local environment." Ray replied

Fabian chuckled when both Ray and Cassandra worded their answers exactly the same, "Yes, but thats only one of their systems. two points for answering part of the question. Indeed when snakes gather odor particles with thier tongue in which is transfered to two fluid-filled sacs on the roof of their mouth. Jacobson's organs is the first followed by the smaller olfactory chamber."

"In general snakes have two systems, the first is through their nasal opening that lead to an olfactory chamber for processing. And the second system is their tongues as mentioned earlier" he trailed off into a smile at the class as a whole, until a student started making odd sounds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle Princess

Ariana continued to scratch furiously on her arms as she tried to concentrate in class. It was difficult however, the sunglasses were making it diffucult to see professor Clark, and the annoying itchy sensations were causing her to not pay much attention to what he was saying. Determined not to give up and to try and give a coherent response she opened her mouth to reply, "Well professor..." she stopped suddenly as a small bird-like sound escaped her lips. She flinched, blushing scarlet as she looked around. "Sorry." She muttered, sinking in her seat and gulping.

Fabian raised a brow at Ariana, he was about to speak in respect to her class behavior when the live projected snake on the board started hissing madly in her direction. He turned to face it with the same peculiar look. Seeing it was disturbing the class, he flicked his wand turning off the live projection. Odd.

"Lets continue" he croaked scratching the side of his jaw thoughtfully, " the fourth sense is Taste, but that we pretty much covered with the smelling sense. Snakes can taste using their tongue, they either flick it in the air or hit the ground. All the chemicals collected gets sent back to the mouth, through oral chambers".


"The final sense is Touch, can anyone explain more about it?"

Agie raised her hand. "The snakes feel with their tongues Professor. Snakes flick out their tongue, and either wave it in the air, or touch the ground with it. It is also used to find or detect chemical scents. This helps them fine and follow their prey" she answered.

Ray raised his hand again ready to answer. "A pit viper has two heat sensors, called pits, on the front of its face. Special cells inside the pits can pick up even the tiniest bit of heat. Most pythons and some boas have pits too. But theirs form a row along the lips.

A snake with these super sensors can figure out exactly where and how big a warm body is. What about camouflaged prey that hide in broad daylight by keeping very still? No problem--a snake with pits just goes for the heat".

"Snake bodies are flooded with tactile receptors that allow them to feel the slightest change in their environment. This allows for quick changes in muscular movement during locomotion as the snake's tactile receptors sense the slightest shift in the ground.

Tactile receptors also come in handy during social encounters where touch and smell become the communication of choice."

Ariana looked closer at the projected snake,wondering why she hadn't seen it was real before. She kept glancing at it, a weird feeling over coming her, which she stopped thankfully and nearly jumped out of her seat and ran for the nearest exit as the projected snake hissed at her, well that's what it seemed like anyway, before Professor Clark shut it down.

She sighed settling down in her seat, wishing there was a hole she could crawl into and stay, feeling horrible about disrupting his class and remained silent, writing the answers down with her quill. She made a note to speak to him about her behavious later on, if she got through this class first.

Qaz had filled several pages with notes. Her hand was starting to hurt. She certainly wished it was a more pleasant subject. She'd unexpectedly come across too many rattlesnakes so feel friendly toward them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kami12

Ray raised his hand again ready to answer. "A pit viper has two heat sensors, called pits, on the front of its face. Special cells inside the pits can pick up even the tiniest bit of heat. Most pythons and some boas have pits too. But theirs form a row along the lips.

A snake with these super sensors can figure out exactly where and how big a warm body is. What about camouflaged prey that hide in broad daylight by keeping very still? No problem--a snake with pits just goes for the heat".

"Yes, only Pit families of snakes have that sense and is considered as the sixth sense".

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeathEater24601

"Snake bodies are flooded with tactile receptors that allow them to feel the slightest change in their environment. This allows for quick changes in muscular movement during locomotion as the snake's tactile receptors sense the slightest shift in the ground.

Tactile receptors also come in handy during social encounters where touch and smell become the communication of choice."

"Very well worded" Fabian mused, "Two points for your answer. Though Snake tongues are, in addition, Touch receptors".


"With this we cover the basic snake senses. And how they use them for hunting. Now comes the question of how big can they get and how much do they need to feed? And lets say how big can their prey get?"


"Snakes can range from 4 inches in length to more than 30 feet in length. Hundreds of tiny vertebrae and ribs cover this length and connect each other through an intricate system of muscles. Snake's skin is extremely elastic and covered with scales. Any know the substance snake skin is made out of? .. I'll give you a hint.. its the same substance your fingernails are made from".

Cassandra growled under her breath at the Hufflepuff. She then smiled at the professor and raised her hand again. "Touch plays a vital role in the life of a creature that lives on it's belly. It is no surprise to hear that snake bodies are flooded with tactile receptors that allow them to feel the slightest change in their environment. This allows for quick changes in muscular movement during locomotion as the snake's tactile receptors sense the slightest shift in the ground. Tactile receptors also come in handy during social encounters where touch and smell become the communication of choice. Snakes are very responsive to touch."

"Part of some snakes sense of touch, is their ability to sense the heat of other creatures. The two main groups of snakes have heat sensitive pits. The boids and the pit vipers. Although a few other snakes possess this remarkable heat seeking ability, these two are the most prominent."

"In boids a row of heat pits are located on the lips in crevices called supralabial pits or top jaw, and/or infralabial pits or bottom jaw. These pits are able to sense slight changes in the ambient temperature, a valuable hunting tool for a nocturnal hunter."

Cassandra counted on her fingers. They had covered sight, hearing, smell, and touch. Had they skipped taste? Cassandra raised her hand to ask him.

Taylie raised her hand tentatively "Is it made of enamel?"