Mississippi Science ZOO.8.5
The Standard
- ZOO.8
- Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Chordata, classes Amphibia and Reptilia, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living things.
Describe how snakes use chemosensory to locate and track prey.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Phylum Chordata, Classes Amphibia, and Reptilia
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how a snake flicks its forked tongue to collect chemicals from the air and ground. They describe how the tongue carries those samples to the vomeronasal organ in the roof of the mouth.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a diagram with stronger prey chemicals on one side, a student predicts which way the snake will turn. They explain how comparing samples from the two tongue tips helps it follow prey it cannot see.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think the tongue detects chemicals on its own or that its fork grabs prey. Some think all snakes track prey using heat-sensing pits, but not all snakes have them.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A snake’s left tongue tip collects more prey chemicals than its right. Which way should it turn, and which organ checks the samples?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Tape a paper mouse trail to a desk; pairs compare chemical-strength cards on each side and steer a paper snake with a forked tongue.
Ask students to write why tongue flicks can reveal a hidden mouse trail and name the organ that detects the samples.
Give pairs three trail diagrams with different left and right chemical readings; have partners race to choose each snake’s next turn.
On a barn floor map with a marked mouse path, have students draw where a snake would sample chemical traces to follow it.
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Printable ZOO.8.5 Worksheet
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