Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
From the brains behind Brains On, this is the Moment of Um. Moment of Um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Bettina the Butterfly. So the other day, I was at my favorite store, Candice's Candle Emporium. I was on the hunt for something light and refreshing to set the mood at my new pedal pad.
There were so many new scents. Juniper jasmine, freshly washed bell pepper, antique rug musk. How's a butterfly to choose just one? Naturally, I had to sample them all. Unlike humans, I don't use my nose to smell because, well, I don't have a nose. Instead, us butterflies actually use our antenna to smell,
Those boingy little sticks on the top of my head. Sometimes I use my feet for sniffing, too. Pretty nifty, right? So anyway, there I was in Candace's candle emporium, knee-deep in a day-old croissant candle when I saw a lizard sampling some candles, too. Except this lizard wasn't sniffing the candles. It was licking the candles. I was quite surprised.
Do lizards just like to lick candles? Or does this mean that lizards smell with their tongues? One of our listeners was wondering the same thing. Let's ask a lizard expert. Yeah, lizards do smell with their tongues similarly to snakes.
Hi, I'm Laura Kojima. I'm a graduate student at the University of California, Davis studying reptile and amphibian management and conservation. They have what's called a Jacobson's organ and that is on the roof of their mouth. And basically the reason why they use their tongue and sometimes you'll see forked tongues in certain lizards or forked tongues in even snakes is because when they're sniffing and basically sticking their tongue out,
Little scent particles will attach to the top of those forks, so that's why the split tongue is a little bit more efficient than a non-split tongue because it's able to capture more particles. And they kind of do the tongue flick and then they'll put their tongue back in their mouth. And once they flick up, the information from the scent goes to the roof of their mouth to their brain where they're able to get a better idea of their environment.
Snakes don't have ears, but lizards do have ears. So they have little holes on the side of their head. So a lot of lizard species don't have forked tongues because they have those other senses that are able to compensate for basically the smell component, but they still will use their tongue to get an idea of their surroundings, their environment, and what they might want to pursue for a food item. Um, uh,
So lizards do smell with their tongues. Lizards and snakes do have a special little organ inside the roof of their mouths that helps them smell and stuff. They stick out their tongue to pick up little scent particles, then flick it back inside and touch it to that organ. No wonder that lizard was licking the candles. It was just sniffing everything out like the rest of us.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go light my new smoky barbecue brisket candle. If you like this episode, take a second to subscribe to Moment of Um wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you're sniffing for more, check out the Brains On podcast where we have a whole episode all about why you smell the way you do. Want to see our shows come to life?
Head to YouTube where we've got awesome animated Brains On episodes. Search Brains On Universe on YouTube and subscribe. If you have a question, we'd love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. See you next time and the next day and every weekday. Until then.
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