Boomslang with protruding tongue

---

Juvenile boomslang (Dispholidus typus typus) using its tongue to smell. Snakes use their tongues for collecting chemicals from the air or ground. The tongue does not have receptors to taste or smell. Instead, these receptors are in the vomeronasal, or Jacobson's Organ, which is in the roof of the mouth. This snake is native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa and is arboreal and terrestrial. Boomslangs are rear-fanged and although their venom is extremely poisonous they are shy, non-aggressive snakes and few bites are recorded. Photographed in controlled conditions at the Hoedspruit reptile centre, Limpopo province, South Africa.

---

Size: 7245px × 4830px
Location:
Photo credit: © TONY CAMACHO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, -aggressive, -fanged, africa, african, behavior, behavioral, behaviour, behavioural, biological, biology, boomslang, colubridae, controlled, dangerous, dispholidus, elapid, elapidae, environment, fauna, flicking, frightening, haemotoxic, hemotoxin, herpestid, herpetological, herpetology, juvenile, nature, neurotoxic, neurotoxin, poison, poisonous, portrait, protruding, rear-fanged, reptile, reptilia, reptilian, sense, smell, snake, south, squamata, squamate, tasting, tongue, typus, venom, venomous, wildlife, young, zoological, zoology