Untitled Document
 Imagine
that you are a Harbor seal in the Atlantic
or Pacific Ocean looking for fish. It is pitch-dark, cold, and wet. And your prey is one elusive and silent swimmer.
What do you do when your sight, smell, and hearing is useless? As a seal, the answer
should be obvious: use your whiskers!
A new study has discovered that seals can
detect the size, shape, and thickness of objects using
their whiskers. A trained Harbor seal’s head
was covered with a mask and headphones to simulate a restriction on its other
senses, as paddles of various sizes and shapes
created waves near the animal’s face.
 The seal
could distinguish between the different
water movements that each object left behind; also
called a “hydrodynamic trail.” The seal then reacted strongly to the
“fatter” artificial fish.
A seal has 40 to 50 whiskers on either sides of its snout, with 1,500 nerves at the end of each
whisker. That is 10 times more nerve endings than a cat! The extremely sensitive nerves pick up
any and all changes in their watery surroundings; sensing fish
up to 100 meters away using only its whiskers. Their whiskers boost its excellent hearing
and other senses, and help these fin-footed mammals to always go for
the fatter, tastier fish. |
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