Snake Tongue Color
Close relatives: a red tongue with a black tip is found in virtually all garter snake species. This includes the giant garter snake of California, terrestrial garter snake of high altitudes, and eastern ribbon snake of Pennsylvania. Even more astonishingly, snakes' tongues can sometimes have more than one color.
The garter snake, for example, has a red tongue up until the fork part, where it turns black. What color is a snakes tongue? Snakes' tongues come in different colors, such as cream, blue, red, and even black! Even more astonishingly, snakes' tongues can sometimes have more than one color. The garter snake, for example, has a red tongue up until the fork part, where it turns black.
Garter snake with red tongue Stock Photo - Alamy
Many other snakes have multicolored tongues. Some snakes even have tongues with two colors! For instance, a garter snake has a red tongue except at the tip, where it is black. Sadly, like me, not too many scientists have wondered about the colors of snake tongues and this issue has not been extensively studied.
Be assured, from now on I will examine the tongues of every snake I meet. Snake tongue color. Image via Unsplash The color of a snake's tongue can be a direct reflection of its physical health.
Why Do Snakes Have Forked Tongues? | WETA
In many cases, a healthy snake will have a brightly colored or consistent-toned tongue. Any variation from its usual color, such as unusual redness, paleness, or discoloration, could signal health issues. These changes might indicate stress, infection, or nutritional.
Various snake species have different colored tongues. Some species have dark colored tongues, while others are bright red, blue or cream. In some species -- garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis ssp.) provide an excellent example -- the tongue is often red at the base, while the tips are black.
How the tongue shaped life on Earth | Science | AAAS
Individual variation exists in some species as well, with different specimens exhibiting differently. Anyhow, some of the selection forces that have created the snakes we are familiar with today may have indirectly caused changes in stages of fetal development which in turn resulted in the wide array of tongue colors between species. A while back, a friend of mine asked me about snakes and the colors of their tongues.
Why are some snakes' tongues pink, some red, some black, some black and red (or red and black), and some an iridescent blue or purple, she wondered? What color is a poisonous snakes tongue? Various snake species have different colored tongues. Some species have dark colored tongues, while others are bright red, blue or cream. The snake uses its tongue as part of the system of perception called the vomeronasal system - - because of its relative proximity to the vomer bone at the front of the skull and the nasal system.
The vomeronasal system is a sensory organ made up of two small openings in the roof of the mouth in many animals, including humans.
