The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change

is a research museum of the Leibniz Association

The infrared sense of rattlesnakes: Neuronal processing of a low-resolution image

Date: 
Mon, 01/21/2019 - 5:15pm
Meeting point: 
Poppelsdorfer Schloss
Location: 
Lecture hall
Event type: 
Lecture
Event series: 
Colloquium on evolution and biodiversity
Target group: 
Studierende
Lecturer: 
Dr. Tobias Kohl, Zoology, TU Munich

Pitvipers, such as rattlesnakes, have a specialized sensory system in the upper jaw to detect infrared (IR) radiation. This extra sense is used for behavioural thermoregulation, predator avoidance and particularly to detect and strike at endothermic prey.

The infrared system consists of bilateral pit organs that resemble simple pinhole cameras and map IR objects onto the sensory epithelium as blurred representations of the environment. Although the image is of low resolution, rattlesnakes can strike precisely at potential prey even in complete darkness.

To gather a first understanding of how spatial and directional information is extracted from the blurred IR-images, we recorded neurons in isolated rattlesnake brains intracellularly. Our data from two unique infrared sensitive nuclei (LTTD, RC), indicates that synaptic processing related to contrast enhancement and IR object motion already takes place at the level of the hindbrain.

Contact person

Head of Section
+49 228 9122-241
+49 228 9122-295
h.waegele [at] leibniz-zfmk.de

Biologisches Kolloquium

Prof. Dr. A. Blanke
Institut für Evolutionsbiologie und Ökologie
An der Immenburg 1, 53121 Bonn

 

Prof. Dr. A. Suh
Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels, Museum Koenig Bonn
Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn

 

Ort: Großer Hörsaal, Poppelsdorfer Schloß oder online via ZOOM

Zeit: montags, 17.15 Uhr