6 Senses Animals Have But Humans Don't
Miscellaneous / / February 05, 2022
Our smaller brothers can see the invisible, feel prey from a distance and navigate without GPS.
1. infrared vision
infrared light It hasInfrared Vision / National Geographic Society longer wavelengths than the visible spectrum, so it cannot be seen by the human eye. But mosquitoes and bed bugs, frogs and some fish, vampire bats and many types of snakes mayAnimals That Can See Infrared Light/Sciencing use infrared waves to find sources of heat coming from prey.
The fact is that heated objects glowK. Huang. Statistical Mechanics. Really well-heated objects emit light visible to people, so pieces of molten metal appear red to us. But the bodies of animals emit infrared light, and animals catch it.
For example, snakes enjoy normal vision during the day and infrared vision at night. The same boas have depressions at the jaws lined with heat-sensitive cells that work even in complete darkness. If you want to imagine how they see, remember the alien hunter from the movie Predator.
2. ultraviolet vision
Amphibians, isolated iguanasScience: Ultraviolet vision brings lizard up to the mark / New Scientist, many insects, fishesG. H. Jacobs. Ultraviolet Vision in Vertebrates / Oxford Academic, reindeer, birds and rodents haveRetinal receptors in rodents maximally sensitive to ultraviolet light / Nature UV receptors in the retina.
For bees, for example, this helps them find nectar in flowers. Birds allowsI. C. Cuthill, J. C. Partridge. Ultraviolet Vision in Birds / Advances in the Study of Behavior notice small prey at a great distance and maneuver at high speeds.
And reindeer use this part spectrumReindeer gained UV vision after moving to the Arctic / New Scientistto find food. Lichens absorb ultraviolet light, so they become more noticeable, appear black in the snow.
Supervision also helps to see fur from afar, and, as you know, wolves are often wrapped in it.
In addition, deer ableReindeer see a weird and wonderful world of ultraviolet light / ScienceDaily to distinguish urine stains where we humans cannot see anything. Urine also absorbs UV radiation, so it catches the eye and helps artiodactyls avoid wolves and brothers who do not like it when a stranger enters their territory.
3. magnetoreception
As you know, the Earth has a powerful magnetic field that protects us from cosmic radiation and solar radiation. But some animals have learnedUnraveling the enigma of bird magnetoreception / Nature use it also for orientation in space. Turtles, lobsters, sharks and many types of migratory birds have built-in compasses so they can't get lost.
Sometimes living organisms not sensitiveAnimals magnetic sixth sense may come from bacteria: The question is one that has been unresolved despite 50 years of research / ScienceDaily to magnetic fields by themselves, but are in symbiosis with bacteria of the genus living in their bodies Magnetobacterium. These microorganisms literally give their carriers superpowers, just like in the comics. A number of penguins, sea turtles, bats, and most whales have these.
This, by the way, is not always a useful ability.
Scientists believeSolar storms may interfere with the ability of whales to navigate / New Scientistthat because of storms on the sun sometimes the “compass” fails in whales and therefore they are washed ashore. Well, at least that's one of the reasons.
Humans also have organs capable of to interactMagnetic bones in human sinuses / Nature with a magnetic field - the sphenoid sinus and the ethmoid labyrinth in the nose. Apparently, in the past, our species was able to navigate in this way, but later the need for this disappeared.
4. electrical flair
Some creatures likeelectric eelsElectric wheel / Britannica, catfishMalapterurus electricus (African Electric Catfish) / Red List, as well as sharks and rays, are able to feel electric fields. A special organ helps them in this - the so-called ampullae of Lorenzini.
The fact is that the bodies of living beings create electrical impulses, and the owners of the ampoules of Lorenzini catch them in the water. This helpsStudy Shows How Skates, Rays and Sharks Sense Electrical Fields / UC San Francisco them to find prey.
Therefore, the same sharks are able to attack the victim without even seeing it.
Not only fish can feel electricity, but also mammals. Guiana dolphins too looking forDolphins' 'Sixth Sense' Helps Them Feel Electric Fields / Live Science own food, catching the currents emanating from the fish. This instinct is useful not only during hunting, but also simply for navigating the ocean.
Only instead of ampoules of Lorenzini dolphins apply their hair follicles. Yes, they have preserved those, albeit in a reduced form, from the time when dolphins were hairy, ran on land and were called pakicetes.
Spiders too ableHow electricity helps spider webs snatch prey and pollutants / ScienceDaily capture electricity. But since they do not live in water, they have to create conductors for current. Some species of arthropods coat their webs with a special electrostatic compound.
First, by voltage changes network owner understands where to look for the trapped fly. Secondly, an electrified network captures various particles and insects flying in the air better. And thirdly, the latter also feel electric fields - this is important for them to navigate in the air.
And the web creates interference, and confused flyers go to see what is so interesting hanging there. And that's how it comes out.
By the way, electricity useFloral signs go electric / University of Bristol and pollinators such as bumblebees. They build up a small positive charge when they flap their wings. Most plants are negatively charged. When an insect lands on a flower, it feels a small electrical discharge and from it determines whether there were other pollinators and whether it is worth wasting time. If the flower is already pollinated, it... changes its charge, warning the bees sitting on it that they have nothing to catch here.
5. Echolocation
Echolocation is the ability to navigate in space by ear, picking up sounds reflected from the surface of surrounding objects. For example, bats know howS. Lima. Do predators influence the behavior of bats? / Biological Reviews larynx in flightultrasonicEcholocation - Bats / U.S. National Park Service, a squeak inaudible to humans. Then they catch the echo of this squeak and determine the distances to objects and prey from it.
This super ability is necessary for mice to avoid bumping into obstacles when flying like crazy in the air.
In addition to bats, ultrasonic echolocation applyJ. Fjeldse, N. Krabbe. Birds of the High Andes fat (this is the name of the species, not a characteristic of appearance) nightjars and swifts. It is also used by blinded laboratory rats.
Blind people, by the way, too may learn echolocation. But, of course, they are not as advanced as those of bats, and people are unable to emit and perceive ultrasound.
Dolphins, on the other hand, are so good at combining visual and acoustic information in their brains that they are able to literally “see” their sonar data. It probably looks something like an image from the screen of an ultrasound machine. Scientists even thinkDolphins May 'See' Pregnant Women's Fetuses / Live Sciencethat this ability allows dolphins to distinguish between pregnant and non-pregnant women. Not particularly useful for dolphins, but still.
6. infra-hearing
In addition to ultrasonic there isM. Viglino. Hearing from the ocean and into the river: the evolution of the inner ear of Platanistoidea (Cetacea: Odontoceti) / Paleobiology also infrasonic echolocation. Low-frequency sounds are preferred, for example, by baleen whales like humpback or blue.
Infrasound travels much farther than all other waves in water, and with its help, for example, whales communicate and make useful acquaintances. They gather in a flock and sing in chorus.
Hear infrasound know howInfrasonic calls of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) / SpringerLink not only sea creatures, but also land creatures, such as elephants and alligators. True, they cannot navigate with its help in the air, but ableHorny Male Alligators Bellow With Their Back Spikes / WIRED give each other signals.
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