Re: jo's

[cnedin@geology.adelaide.edu.au (Chris Nedin)]

Bonnie Blackwell wrote:

>for we geologists who have not taken bio in MANY years, could someone
>please summarize (2-3 lines) what is a jacobsen's organ and what it does.
>thx

The Jocobson's Organ is a area (often a pit or pits) of highly chemically
sensitive tissue, usually found in the roof of the mouth of reptiles.  A
snake, for instance, 'tastes' the air by flicking its tongue out and then
bringing it back into the mouth and pressing the tip of it into its
Jacobson's Organ to test for airborne molecules. The Jacobson's Organ can
be *very* sensitive.

Chris

cnedin@geology.adelaide.edu.au                  nedin@ediacara.org
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Many say it was a mistake to come down from the trees, some say
the move out of the oceans was a bad idea. Me, I say the stiffening
of the notochord in the Cambrian was where it all went wrong,
it was all downhill from there.