155 No Eardrums, No Problem

It's a commonly held belief that snakes can't hear, or can't hear very well, because they have no external ear openings. Some clever new research puts that myth to bed.

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Main Paper References:

Zdenek CN, Staples T, Hay C, Bourke LN, Candusso D. 2023. Sound garden: How snakes respond to airborne and groundborne sounds. PLOS ONE 18:e0281285. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281285.

Other Links/Mentions:

Zdenek et al video of snakes reacting to noise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnNzinwwItk 

Editing and Music:

Podcast edited by Emmy – https://www.fiverr.com/emmyk10 

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy

Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com