Officer Dies After Dorner Shootout; Cabin on Fire

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Police are in a tense standoff with fugitive former-cop Christopher Dorner, who barricaded himself inside a remote mountain cabin near Big Bear, Calif., after a shootout with police in which he shot two cops, killing one, authorities said.


Smoke was seen coming from near or at the cabin shortly before 4:30 p.m. PT, and a fire has been reported to authorities.


Dorner, a former Navy marksman wanted for murdering a police officer and suspected in the deaths of two other people earlier this month, engaged in a gunfight with two San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies who had pursued him.


The two were airlifted to a nearby hospital, where one died, police said.


Dozens of local, state and federal authorities are at the scene in the San Bernardino Mountains, and have the the cabin surrounded. Dorner has sworn to kill police and their family members in a manifesto discovered online last week.


The search for Dorner, one of the largest manhunts in recent memory, culminated in a call to police this afternoon that a suspect resembling Dorner had broken into a nearby home, taken hostages and stolen a car.


Police said the former cop, believed to be heavily armed and extremely dangerous, took two women hostage before stealing a car just after noon local time today, police said.


The two hostages, who were tied up by Dorner but later escaped, were evaluated by paramedics and were determined to be uninjured.


Officials say Dorner crashed the stolen vehicle and fled on foot to the cabin where he barricaded himself and exchanged fire with deputies from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office and state Fish and Game officers.






Los Angeles Police Department/AP Photo











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Police have sealed all roads going into the area and imposed a no-fly zone above the cabin, nestled in a wooded area that has received several inches of snow in recent days.


Four Big Bear area schools were briefly placed on lockdown.


The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department stopped all traffic leaving the area and thoroughly searched vehicles, as SWAT team and tactical units could be seen driving toward the cabin, their sirens blaring.


FULL COVERAGE: Christopher Dorner Manhunt


Authorities say they believe Dorner may be watching reports of the standoff and have asked media not to broadcast images of police surrounding the cabin.


"If he's watching this, the message ... is: Enough is enough. It's time to turn yourself in. It's time to stop the bloodshed. It's time to let this event and let this incident be over," said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Andy Smith, told reporters at a press conference.


Dorner faces capital murder charges that involve the killing of Riverside police officer Michael Crain, who was gunned down in an ambush last Thursday.


Since then a massive manhunt has been under way, focused primarily in the San Bernardino Mountains, but extending to neighboring states and as far away as Mexico.


A capital murder charge could result in the death penalty if Dorner is captured alive and convicted. Crain was married with two children, aged 10 and 4.


The charges do not involve the slayings of Monica Quan and her fiance, who were found shot to death Feb. 3. Quan was the daughter of former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, who was mentioned as a target of Dorner's fury in his so-called "manifesto," which he posted on his Facebook page.



PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings


In the 6,000 word "manifesto," Dorner outlined his anger at the Los Angeles Police Department for firing him, and made threats against individuals he believed were responsible for ending his career with the police force five years ago.


Dorner's grievance with police goes back five years, to when he was fired after filing what the LAPD determined to be a false report accusing other cops of brutality.


The LAPD has assigned 50 protection details to guard officers and their families who were deemed possible targets.



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A taste for diplomacy

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Critical Loop Information Bulletin for heads of state, foreign ministers and their chefs:


An excellent meal of fine food and wine has often been the key to successful diplomatic negotiations. So if you’re hosting Secretary of State John Kerry
, here are some pointers.


In arranging a dinner with the former senator last year, one host asked whether Kerry had meal preferences.

One aide e-mailed: “Anything is good, as long as there is no celery involved.” Celery?

Shades of President George H.W. Bush’s war on broccoli back in 1990, when he famously declared: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid, and my mother made me eat it. I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.”

The edict, banning the offending vegetable from the White House and Air Force One, outraged broccoli farmers and the nutrition-minded.

But simply eschewing celery — while sure to upset the farmers — isn’t very much to go on when you’re putting on a full dinner.

So a second aide, apparently speaking with deep knowledge, refined the menu suggestions:

“He particularly enjoys scallops. . . . You’ll also do well with lamb chops, shepherd's pie, simple salad, clam chowder, chocolate desserts, ice cream. Apple juice, water, Zinfandel wine, Sauv Blanc. He doesn’t drink coffee and the celery restriction is accurate.”

Sounds very New England, maybe a bit old-fashioned. (But best not go overboard into a New England boiled dinner or creamed chipped beef.) In addition, we’ve heard it’s best not to serve farm-raised salmon. Good to know Kerry drinks water. It’s unclear whether sparkling or still, so offer both, just not tap.

Remember, a well-fed secretary of state could be the margin of difference in tense negotiations.


Closed doors, open windows

Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm’s name has been floated for many Cabinet jobs, including secretary of labor or transportation or energy.

But she’s thinking she may be out of the running.

Granholm, who last year hosted a show called “The War Room” on Current TV — the network Al Gore sold in January to al-Jazeera — said Sunday that she’s “probably” going to work at the Pew Charitable Trusts as a spokeswoman on clean-energy matters, though it’s not a “done deal.” (Quite so — a source at Pew says it’s not going to happen.)

Granholm, interviewed on “Platts Energy Week,” an all-energy news and talk show, said she’d been watching confirmation hearings in the past few weeks.

“If you think it was hard getting Hagel confirmed,” she said, referring to Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for defense secretary, “imagine somebody who has run a progressive talk show for the past year, probably poking a few Republicans in the eye,” maybe even some who will be voting on her nomination.

“I might be a little bit of a tough” challenge to confirm, Gran­holm said, “but I’m going to do all sorts of stuff serving on the outside, for sure.”

Sounds as though a Cabinet post is not in her future. On the other hand, there are good jobs that don’t require confirmation.

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Anti-whaling group takes battle to top US court

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WASHINGTON: The Sea Shepherd conservation group asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to lift an order forcing it to steer clear of Japan's whalers, who are seeking legal reprisals over harassment at sea.

Since 2002, Sea Shepherd has annually disrupted Japan's contested hunt in the Southern Ocean but a US court issued an injunction on December 17 for the activists to stay at least 500 yards away from the whaling vessels.

Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son and namesake of the slain political icon, urged the United States to show support for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and its fugitive founder Paul Watson.

"It's a mission that only they are capable of accomplishing and that is absolutely vital to the enforcement of international agreements on the high seas which otherwise go unenforced," Kennedy told reporters.

The International Whaling Commission has designated a whale sanctuary in the Southern Ocean. Japan kills whales in the area through a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows lethal research.

Kennedy called Japan's government-supported Institute of Cetacean Research, which runs the whaling program and sued Sea Shepherd, "a pirate organisation masquerading as a scientific research group."

In a filing to the Supreme Court on Friday, Sea Shepherd and Watson said that the lower court "acted rashly" and voiced concern over the order's "extraordinarily long reach" to areas outside US jurisdiction.

The document said that the injunction marked "a potentially existential threat" to Sea Shepherd as more than 80 per cent of its funding comes from donations, which "may slow to a trickle" without the anti-whaling campaign.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit cited safety concerns when it issued the injunction, effective until a decision on the case.

The Institute of Cetacean Research hit back and was believed to have asked the judge to find Sea Shepherd in contempt of court -- which would potentially lead to punishment.

Sea Shepherd released a letter from a lawyer representing the institute, which complained that MV Brigitte Bardot, a former ocean racer named after the French actress and animal rights activist, violated the 500-yard injunction on January 29.

The letter warned of legal action unless Sea Shepherd ordered the Brigitte Bardot to comply with the injunction or returned it to port.

The Oregon-based group contended that it was observing the injunction, saying that the Brigitte Bardot sails under an Australian flag and is operated by Sea Shepherd's Australian sister organisation.

Japan's institute is "just like a bully who is finally challenged and runs to his mommy," said Scott West, the director of intelligence and investigation for US Sea Shepherd.

Sea Shepherd boasted that it has prevented Japan from killing whales this season. Japan, which makes no secret that meat from whaling ends up on dinner plates, accuses Western nations of disrespecting its cultural traditions.

Gavin Carter, a US-based spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research, called Sea Shepherd's Supreme Court filing an "unusual approach."

Watson, a dual US and Canadian citizen, has kept his whereabouts unknown since July, when he jumped bail in Germany, where he was arrested on charges from Costa Rica related to a confrontation over shark finning.

- AFP/jc



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Markanday Katju slams scribe’s detention

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NEW DELHI: Describing detention of journalist IftikharGilani by the Delhi police as "undemocratic" Press Council chairman MarkandayKatju asked Union home secretary for action against the police officials involved and criminal charges pressed against them.

Responding to a complaint filed by Gilani, Katju said that the Delhi police's behavior exposed a high-handed and outrageous behaviour.

In a letter to the home secretary R K Singh Justice Katju also sought immediate institution of criminal proceedings against such officers under relevant provisions of IPC and grant of compensation and apology to Gilani for his alleged harassment. He said the action against the cops should be initiated by the government within 48 hours.

The letter came after Gilani in an email to Katju complained that security agencies had illegally detained him at the house of his father-in-law Syed Ali Geelani following the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and harassed him for many hours. Syed Ali Shah Geelani is a Kashmiri separatist leader who heads the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference.

Katju used the opportunity to ask police personnel to not carry out such "illegal" orders of their superiors, "otherwise they will be charged for serious crimes, and if found guilty, severely punished".

On Gilani's charges of harassment, Katju said, "They reveal great high handedness and outrageous behaviour by the Delhi policemen concerned in harassing and tormenting Mr Gilani and his family, including his small children. These were the undemocratic and abhorrent methods of the Gestapo during Nazi rule."

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Kumbh Mela: Pictures From the Hindu Holy Festival

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Benedict's Legacy Marred by Sex Abuse Scandal

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When Pope Benedict XVI resigns at the end of this month, he leaves behind a Church grappling with a global fallout from sex abuse and a personal legacy marred by allegations that he was instrumental in covering up that abuse.


As the sex abuse scandal spread from North America to Europe, Benedict became the first pope to meet personally with victims, and offered repeated public apologies for the Vatican's decades of inaction against priests who abused their congregants.


"No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse," the pope said in a 2008 homily in Washington, D.C., before meeting with victims of abuse for the first time. "It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention." During the same trip to the U.S., he met with victims for the first time.


For some of the victims, however, Benedict's actions were "lip service and a public relations campaign," said Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota lawyer who represents victims of sex abuse. For 25 years, Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, headed the Vatican office responsible for investigating claims of sex abuse, but he did not act until he received an explicit order from Pope John Paul II.


In 1980, as Archbishop of Munich, Ratzinger approved plans for a priest to move to a different German parish and return to pastoral work only days after the priest began therapy for pedophilia. The priest was later convicted of sexually abusing boys.






Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images







PHOTOS: Church Sex Scandals


In 1981, Cardinal Ratzinger became head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the office once known as the Inquisition -- making him responsible for upholding church doctrine, and for investigating claims of sexual abuse against clergy. Thousands of letters detailing allegations of abuse were forwarded to Ratzinger's office.


A lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of the Survivors' Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a victims' rights group, charges that as head of the church body Ratzinger participated in a cover-up of abuse. In an 84-page complaint, the suit alleges that investigators of sex abuse cases in several countries found "intentional cover-ups and affirmative steps taken that serve to perpetuate the violence and exacerbate the harm."


"Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, either knew and/or some cases consciously disregarded information that showed subordinates were committing or about to commit such crimes," the complaint says.


Jeffrey Lena, the Vatican's lawyer in the U.S., told the AP the complaint was a "ludicrous publicity stunt and a misuse of international judicial processes."


In the 1990s, former members of the Legion of Christ sent a letter to Ratzinger alleging that the founder and head of the Catholic order, Father Marcial Maciel, had molested them while they were teen seminarians. Maciel was allowed to continue as head of the order.


In 1996, Ratzinger didn't respond to letters from Milwaukee's archbishop about a priest accused of abusing students at a Wisconsin school for the deaf. An assistant to Ratzinger began a secret trial of the priest, Father Lawrence Murphy, but halted the process after Murphy wrote a personal appeal to Ratzinger complaining of ill health.


In 2001, Pope John Paul II issued a letter urging the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith to pursue allegations of child abuse in response to calls from bishops around the world.






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Marco Rubio emerges as GOP’s star. But is he the answer for Republicans?

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Lately, it seems just about everyone is fascinated by the junior senator from Florida.




Time’s current cover proclaims Marco Rubio “The Republican Savior.” The Web site BuzzFeed last week solicited his views on immigration, climate change, gay rights — and the relative artistic merits of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. That test of his hip-hop fluency came after Rubio released a Spotify playlist of 16 songs he is listening to, generating a flood of instant analysis in the blogosphere.


Next up: On Tuesday night, Rubio will give the GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union address — in English and Spanish.

“He carries our party’s banner of freedom, opportunity and prosperity in a way few others can,” House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in announcing Rubio’s selection to deliver the rebuttal. Republican uber-strategist Karl Rove has called Rubio “the best communicator since Ronald Reagan.”

Rubio is indeed a politician of unusual gifts. But the spotlight that has fallen on this relatively new arrival to the national scene says as much about the state of the Republican Party as it does about the 41-year-old senator. And it remains to be seen whether he represents the solution to the GOP’s problems, or whether the party’s sky-high hopes in an untested newcomer are just another measure of its drift.

His appeal starts with the fact that Rubio embodies two demographic groups with which the GOP needs to connect: young people and Hispanics.

And he has been trying to add substance to his sizzle. Rubio, in the first high-profile tryout of his legislative skills, is taking a leading role in shaping an overhaul of immigration law.

He is part of a bipartisan group of eight senators who put together a carefully calibrated set of principles that include a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million-plus immigrants in this country illegally. Rubio is the group’s point man tasked with selling that idea to the hard-liners on the right, who see it as heresy.

Rubio declined to be interviewed for this article. Aides explained that Rubio wants to dial things back a bit between now and the State of the Union response. When the Time cover appeared, he tweeted: “There is only one savior, and it is not me. #Jesus.”

“Like most things in politics, we are keenly aware of how fleeting this all is and how most news hype is all sound and no fury,” said Rubio’s senior strategist, Todd Harris. “You run the risk of becoming overexposed and overserved, not to mention the fact you might screw up.”

Rubio’s new prominence also comes at a difficult time for his party. Schisms have developed within the GOP as it searches for a path out of the electoral badlands after two presidential defeats.

He is that rare Republican who is beloved by both the party establishment, which is focused on reaching out to centrist and independent voters, and by the anti-establishment insurgent forces who say the party has erred in not holding true to its most conservative principles.

The Florida senator argues for both. Admirers often point to his 2011 declaration that “we don’t need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system.” It neatly skirted the charge, prosecuted to great effect by Democrats, that Republicans were simply favoring the rich.

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Basketball: Balanced attack propels Clippers past Knicks

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NEW YORK: The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the New York Knicks 102-88 with the help of a strong bench attack and Chris Paul's 25 points, seven assists and a half dozen rebounds.

Jamal Crawford had a team high 27 points and Blake Griffin finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who won despite 42 points from New York forward Carmelo Anthony at Madison Square Garden.

Los Angeles won for the second time in three National Basketball Association games as their reserves easily outscored New York's bench 48-15.

Anthony also had eight rebounds and Raymond Felton was the only other member of the Knicks to score in double figures, finishing with 20 points. The Knicks have lost two of their last three games.

The Clippers held a 71-70 edge heading into the fourth quarter.

Crawford and Eric Bledsoe combined for 13 points during a 19-5 run in the fourth to put the Clippers ahead 90-78 with five minutes to play.

The Knicks rebounded with an 8-2 push to get back within 92-86 but Los Angeles scored the next seven points to regain a 13-point lead with 1:11 left and cruised to the win.

It was Paul's second game back after missing nine straight with a bruised right kneecap.

The Pacific Division-leading Clippers are now 16-12 on the road and will close out their current road swing on Monday at Philadelphia.

- AFP/jc



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Omar apprehends further Kashmiri alienation

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SRINAGAR: Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday warned that the execution of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru would lead to the further alienation of Kashmiris from the Indian mainstream — especially when the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Punjab chief minister Beant Singh were still alive.

Omar said he had told various UPA leaders in the past that hanging Afzal would lead to a strong backlash from the state's people.

Unhappy at the manner in which the UPA government went about the execution, the head of the Congress-National Conference coalition government hinted that New Delhi carried out the death penalty with an eye on future elections.

The chief minister, who spoke to various national news channels, said not informing Afzal's family about his hanging showed that even basic humanitarian norms were not observed in his case. He asked the Centre to hand over Afzal's body to his family for the last rites.

Omar even questioned the Supreme Court verdict against the convict. "Afzal was awarded death sentence on [the basis of] circumstantial evidence rather than facts ... provided before the court," he said. He said the Centre should have provided a lawyer to Afzal. "If it was not possible for them to provide the lawyer in Delhi, a lawyer should have gone from here to plead for Guru," he said.

The CM criticized the home ministry's statement that Afzal's family was informed through Speed Post about the rejection of his clemency petition by the president. "Do you expect such kind of communication to be sent through Speed Post in the internet age?" he said.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir valley was by and large peaceful on Sunday, though there were reports of some incidents of violence in Sopore and Baramulla in north Kashmir. But internet services and local cable networks continued to remain suspended.

No local or national newspaper was available in the Valley on Sunday. While national newspapers could not reach the stands due to continued curfew, local newspapers could not be published due to police instructions. The newspaper owners accused the authorities of denying them permission to publish on Saturday evening.

"A police team arrived at the printing press and asked the management late in the night at 12 o'clock not to publish the newspaper for Sunday," read a post of Greater Kashmir, the largest circulated daily in J&K. "Though no written orders were issued to the media groups.... ." Journalists working with Greater Kashmir said they had completed the edition and left home on Saturday night, but found on Sunday morning that the authorities had imposed a ban on the publication of newspapers in the state.

Apparently, newspaper managements were verbally told not to publish. Official, however, expressed ignorance over any such police action.

Scattered protests, one dies in Ganderbal

A youth, Tariq Ahmad Bhat, died in Ganderbal district when people protesting the hanging of Afzal Guru clashed with security forces on Sunday. According to a senior police officer, Bhat drowned after the security forces gave chase to a violent group of youngsters near the Sumbal area in Ganderbal district.

Major towns in the Valley remained under curfew for a second day. Still, mobs of hundreds of youths hurled stones on security forces in Bandipora, Sopore and Baramulla in north Kashmir. By and large, the police said, the situation remained normal. There were isolated incidents of stone-pelting at different places, a police spokesman said. Four police personnel were injured, one of them seriously.

According to reports, youths threw stones at over a dozen places in the evening soon after the authorities removed the security deployment from areas such as Rawalpora, Raj Bagh and Barazulla in Srinagar.

Both factions of the Hurriyat have called for a three-day general strike across the Valley to protest Afzal's hanging.

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Year of the Snake: The Serpent Behind the Horoscope

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On February 10, people all around the world will ring in the Lunar New Year with paper lanterns and firecrackers. At the heart of it all sits the snake, a slithery reptile feared for its sharp fangs and revered for its undeniable charm. (Watch videos of some of the world's deadliest snakes.)

Those born in the Year of the Snake are said to be intelligent and quick thinking, but they can also be dishonest and prone to show off. Though based on Chinese astrology, some of these traits are similar to characteristics of the actual serpent.

Snakes are known to be great at outsmarting their predators and prey. Their colorful, patterned skin makes them some of the best tricksters in the animal kingdom. And despite a bad rap as frightening creatures, snakes never fail to fascinate scientists, explorers, and zoo-goers. (See pictures of snakes.)

With more than 3,400 recognized species, snakes exhibit incredible diversity in everything from behavior and habitats to skin colors and patterns.

"As a vertebrate lacking in limbs, all snakes look largely like other snakes, yet they succeed in tremendous diversity in multiple directions," said Andrew Campbell, herpetology collections manager at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute.

To usher in the Year of the Snake, Campbell and herpetologist Dennis Ferraro at University of Nebraska-Lincoln weigh in on some of the snake's qualities that the Chinese zodiac predicts people born this year will have.

Horoscope: Snakes have an innately elegant personality but can also be ostentatious at times.

In Nature: Snakes come in all different colors, patterns, and textures, making them some of nature's most visually stunning creatures.

According to Campbell, the utility of their coloring falls into two main categories: to use as camouflage and to warn predators to stay away.

Among the most beautiful are the emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus)—whose vibrant green body is decorated with white stripes resembling lightning bolts—and the Brazilian rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria), characterized by its iridescent skin and the large black rings down its back.

For some snakes, the diversity in color occurs within the same species, which is why Ferraro tells his student not to identify snakes by colors. For example, the polymorphic bush viper (Atheris squamigera), many of which are green, also come in shades of yellow, orange, red, and blue, as captured in photographer Guido Mocafico's "Serpent Still Life" photo series.

Horoscope: The snake is known to be the master seducer of the Chinese zodiac.

In Nature: Female garter snakes (Thamnophis) have all the luck with the gentlemen.

When a female garter snake is ready to mate, she announces it by producing chemicals called pheromones. Males, upon encountering the scent, immediately come crawling out and gather around the female in a large, wriggling "mating ball."

The competition intensifies when a male passing by the ball tries to fool the others by producing a scent that mimics that of the female, said Ferraro.

As soon as his rivals are led off in the wrong direction, the trickster slides right in. In areas with smaller populations of garter snakes, each ball consists of about 12 males and one female.

But in places like Manitoba, Canada, where garter snakes travel to certain areas to mate after coming out of hibernation, a mating ball can have thousands of males and only a hundred females.

Horoscope: Though snakes don't often tell lies, they will use deception when they feel it's necessary and they think they can get away with it.

In Nature: When it comes to using trickery to catch dinner, or to hide from predators, snakes are no amateurs.

Their sneaky techniques range from tricking fish to swim right into their mouths, to playing dead when threatened, to using their wormlike tails to lure in prey.

The most cunning of them all is the two-headed snake. To protect against a sneak attack from behind, the two-headed snake's tail looks just like its head. While the business end looks for food, the snake coils up its body and rests its tail on top to look like it is on guard.

The tail can even mimic the behavior of a retreating snake to trick predators into thinking they're going face-to-face with their opponent.

Horoscope: When snakes get down to work, they are organized and highly efficient, and they work quickly and quietly.

In Nature: While snakes are often perceived as lazy, Campbell said people are mistaken. "What we perceive as shy, lazy, or inactive is really efficiency," he said.

"On average, they are bigger than other lizards and can build a lot of body mass. They do that by being efficient in feeding and traveling." In other words, snakes don't move very much because they don't have to.

When it comes to food, snakes catch prey that are significantly larger than them so they can eat less frequently. This reduces the time they spend hunting and thus makes them less vulnerable to falling victim to a predator themselves.

For Campbell, the most impressive hunter is the eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus Adamanteus), which is able to hunt and kill its prey very quickly using venom, so it doesn't have to travel far. "Because they don't have to do that, they can become relatively large and heavy, being able to build up body mass and not having to spend that energy hunting."

Horoscope: Snakes are charming, with excellent communication skills.

In Nturea: For snakes, their visual and auditory senses don't mean much when it comes to communicating with each other.

Instead, they use their sense of smell and the chemicals produced by their musk glands. Unlike mammals, a snake picks up scent through the forks of its tongue.

When the snake retracts its tongue, it inserts the forks into grooves in an olfactory organ located at the roof of its mouth. Depending on which fork picks up a stronger scent, the snake knows in which direction to go when looking for prey or a mate.

It's when snakes are threatened that they use sight and sound, said Ferraro. Rattlesnakes, for example, shake their tails, making a loud rattling noise to ward off predators.


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