Cetaceans Able To Focus Sound For Echolocation 25
Rambo Tribble writes A recent study from Denmark has determined that porpoises, dolphins and whales can focus the sounds they make, described as "clicks and buzzes", when hunting. This appears to exceed even the capabilities of bats. One researcher described the ability as, "like adjusting a flashlight." The BBC offers approachable, and illustrated coverage.
Oh yeah? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well crustacians are able to focus sound for murder [wired.com] . Beat that, cetaceans!
We'll just ping ya... (Score:2)
Humans have learned to focus sound too. We've already gone the cetacean/bat route [wikipedia.org], and are now working merrily on the crustacian's methods. [wikipedia.org]
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Yeah, dolphins too.
They stun flounder with sound pulses.
Sweet, huh?
Well, unless you're a flounder.
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's been a while since I've studied them, but I think they can generate a force equal to a .22 caliber round with those sound waves.
There are two types of Mantis shrimp attacks. The "spearers" and "smashers". The smashers have the fastest known attack of any animal known to us at the moment, and until recently the fastest known voluntary motion of any animal. Their clubbing appendages accelerate over 10,000g. Even if they don't directly strike their prey, the shock wave of the bubbles (created by cavitation) collapsing will kill their prey. If they don't miss, they first get hit by the shrimp and then again by the shock waves.
Mantis shrimp also have the most complex eyes of any known animal. Over all a really cool critter. I've kept them in aquariums, and they adapt well and will learn to recognize you after a short period of time and shed their shy nature. But they can be a nightmare if they end up in an aquarium as an unwanted hitchhiker. They usually kill the most expensive inhabitants first.
Ummm ... (Score:2)
Hasn't this been known for some time?
I've seen footage of hunting dolphins and whales herding fish into "sonar corrals" and then eating them, and I though I'd heard that the dolphins et al can focus their sonar to fight off things like sharks.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought it had been established for a very long time that these things have really fine control over their sonar and can do all sorts of stuff with them.
Is this actually something new? Or am I just reading this wrong?
Surely if I know
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Well, having seen the videos of dolphins herding fish into a swirling snack-bar using their sonar, and have seen the explanation of them changing their sonar output.
They have a huge chunk of their brain dedicated to doing this stuff, and I thought they could even stun fish with it.
I'm not saying I could do it, but I got the impression this is stuff we've already know they can do.
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Hasn't this been known for some time?
I think so. Research dating back a few decades has associated cetacean melons [wikipedia.org] with the echolocation function, including some species ability to shape this organ. The purpose of such shaping has probably been understood, as some advanved sonars use similar techniques for beam forming and impedance coupling.
Why is this even news? (Score:2)
What did they do, look up the wikipedia article?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... [wikipedia.org]
Or maybe this Encarta article from 2000
"The echolocation sounds of toothed whales, produced in their nasal passages, are focused into a narrow beam as they pass through the melon, a waxy, lens-shaped body in the forehead. The echoes are received by the lower jaw and pass through oil-filled sinuses to the inner ear, which is insulated from the skull by a foamlike pad that cuts out irrelevant noise. Upon closing in on their prey,
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Did you read the article? They measured how their porpoises have control over the focus.
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Yes I did read the article and the idea that something can aim and focus it's primary means of imaging seem intrinsic to that ability, much like different types of animals that can see visible light with their eyes can aim and focus them
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The ability to focus an eye is a relatively specialized adaptation. There's also this thing in science about not making groundless assumptions.
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Yes, and from the Encarta article that I linked:
"are focused into a narrow beam as they pass through the melon, a waxy, lens-shaped body in the forehead"
So, there is your focusing, and apparent scientific understanding of it in 2000
The linked article is a summary, what other in depth knowledge was brought forward by their study, that it can be aimed by turning the head?
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Well scientists did some research and found out something that has been known for ages.
In related news, japanese scientists have discovered that whales still taste good, but they still need to do more 'research'.
Nuclear Wessels... in Alamida (Score:2)
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Nope, but I get big laughs by picking up the mouse and trying to dictate into it
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Google, navigate to San Fransisco
Good news for some Americans (Score:2)
You can navigate in the dark.
Re: So, dolphins can echo? (Score:2)
I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want, but I will kill you for that reference.
Dolphin for my Dojo! (Score:2)
He could improve our Ki Ai :)
How could they survive if they couldn't do this? (Score:2)
It just seems like an obvious finding... like... birds can control which way they move in the air when they fly...
Really?