Virtual Learning Center

Vocabulary Words

  • Ovoviviparous – an animal that keeps its fertilized eggs inside the body while the embryo
    develops. The offspring hatch and leave the body at the same time.
  • Pit vipers – snakes that have holes, or pits, behind their nostrils that can sense heat. This helps
    them to discriminate between possible prey, which would be warm, and a non-living object,
    such as a rock.
  • Jacobson’s organ (also called vomeronasal organ) – an organ of chemoreception that is part of
    the olfactory system (sense of smell). It is very well developed in snakes and helps them hunt
    and track their prey

Fun Facts

  • Female copperheads in captivity can sometimes reproduce asexually (without a male).

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