I like the idea that their eyes regressed as a result of their burrowing underground and developed once more when they moved back to the surface. Sometimes you just have to find another way in. Imagine the first generation of snakes, seeing the world in color, with eyes that hadn't done that in some time.
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I must say snake vision is something I've never really considered before. It makes sense that snakes who lived underground for a long period would eventually lose their color vision and only gradually gain some of it back. Wikipedia discusses snake perception in a bit more detail - like the snake's acute sense of smell determined by the forked tongues that collect particles from the air and ground, and water snakes are able to taste the water for prey as well.
Pit vipers, rattlesnakes and related species, possess all the sensory organs found in other snakes, as well as sense infrared sensitive receptors known as pits near their nostrils. The pits allow them to judge distances by temperature. All in all it appears that snakes in general may have gained in their evoluionary journey to modern forms.
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