What is Jacobson's organ?

Jacobson's organ is located on the roof of the mouth at reptiles and mammals. It is also called the vomeronasal organ. This organ works by sensing chemicals such as pheromones. Scientific research has revealed that plants, vertebrates and insects communicate in this chemosensory way. For example, female silk urea signals potential friends by loosening the feromone bombol, first discovered in 1959 by Adolf Butenandt. When the bees swarms, it is in response to other bees that emit pheromones as an alarm. Elephants touch the tips of their tribes to this organ to take their chemosensory perception of things. The lion uses it to shoot sex hormones and often opens the mouth to smell the pheromones she senses.

Jacobson's organ also helps some animals to perceive chemical compounds except only pheromones issued between species. For example, snakes find their prey by using it. The snake puts its tongue on two pits on the roof of the mouth after having tongue in the air to allow it to feel the laugh correctlyr her prey. The reason why snakes have a broken tongue is so that the tongue can touch these pit. The deeper the fork in the snake tongue, the more the snake uses Jacobson's organ.

Snakes have a fully functional organ, but people and some types of bats do not. The vomeronasal organ develops on the fetus, but then it continues to develop. Scientists have found that some people may have at least partially functioning, but other scientists consider only a fully functional Jacobson organ to be the number, so these results are controversial.