snout
In the broader sense, the snout is the protruding part of the head of vertebrates below the eyes . In a narrower sense, the term “snout” is understood to mean the mouth opening with the oral cavity and is primarily related to carnivorous vertebrates; in the case of herbivorous species, this head region is usually referred to as the " mouth ". The muzzle is essentially formed by the chewing apparatus and serves as an organ of nutrition, in particular the acquisition and intake of food .
anatomy
The snout includes the area around the mouth with the jaw and in mammals also the cheeks . This area of the bony skull is known as the rostrum . If this area is surrounded by horn , it is a beak (for example in birds , turtles or platypus ). A nose that is muscularly elongated in the area of the snout is called a trunk . The nose is continued at the upper part of the muzzle , so the nostrils are usually at the front end of the muzzle.
Since the area of the snout is primarily used for food intake and also represents the foremost area of the head, it has a number of sensory organs . This is how the nose absorbs smells; the tongue in the muzzle is endowed with taste buds . In various reptiles , the Jacobson organ is also located in the palate for smell perception , and many mammals have developed a nasal mirror (rhinarium). In addition, depending on the animal group considered, there are mechanoreceptors (in many mammals with specially trained sensory hairs, the vibrissae ) and thermoreceptors .
Individual evidence
- ↑ snout . In: Lexicon of Biology . Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg 1999 ( Spektrum.de ).
literature
- Friedrich Wilhelm Genthe: Concise dictionary of German synonyms. Published by Georg Reichardt, Eisleben and Leipzig 1834.
