A study carried out by professionals at the University of Rostock, Germany, found that the best-known dolphin species in the world, bottlenose dolphins, can sense electrical fields generated by other animals in the water. For scientists, the ability can help them find food more easily.
The authors, Tim Hüttner It is Guido Dehnhardt analyzed the animals and realized that the hole they have due to the loss of whiskers after birth resembles the structures of sharks that allow them to detect electrical fields.
They carried out a field study and confirmed that all captive bottlenose dolphins were able to sense an electric field in the water. The results were published in the scientific journal Journal of Experimental Biology.
To find out how sensitive the species is to the electrical fields produced by other forms of life that inhabit the water, the researchers tested the sensitivity of two dolphins, named Donna and Dolly, to understand whether they could detect a fish buried at the bottom of the sea.
The animals were trained to rest their jaw on a submerged metal bar and swim away within 5 seconds after feeling an electric field above their snout produced by electrodes.
By gradually decreasing the electrical field from 500 to 2μV/cm, the team recorded how often the dolphins left at the expected time.
Donna and Dolly were equally sensitive to the strongest fields, coming out correctly almost every time. It was only when the electrical fields became weaker that it became evident that Donna was a little more sensitive.
However, in another test, dolphins were not as sensitive to alternating fields as they were to invariable electrical fields.
“Sensitivity to weak electric fields helps a dolphin look for fish hidden in sediment in the last few centimeters before grabbing them,” Dehnhardt explained.
The authors highlighted that they suspect dolphins’ ability to sense electricity could help them on a larger scale.
If animals that swim through weak magnetic field areas swam faster, they would likely sense the planet’s magnetic field. This way, they could use their electrical sense to navigate the globe using the magnetic map, according to the authors.
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Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
