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Cetaceans Able To Focus Sound For Echolocation

Posted by timothy on from the are-you-a-squeaker dept.

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.

25 comments

  1. Oh yeah? by Rei · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Cetaceans Able To Focus Sound For Echolocation

    Well crustacians are able to focus sound for murder . Beat that, cetaceans!

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    1. Re:Oh yeah? by azav · · Score: 2

      Yeah, dolphins too.

      They stun flounder with sound pulses.

      Sweet, huh?

      Well, unless you're a flounder.

      --
      - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
    2. Re:Oh yeah? by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I didn't RTFA, but I though this was already known. Dolphins can also stun and kill prey using sound . Mantis and Pistol shrimp, obviously, generate sound in a different way.

      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.

  2. We'll just ping ya... by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Humans have learned to focus sound too. We've already gone the cetacean/bat route, and are now working merrily on the crustacian's methods.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  3. Ummm ... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

    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 dolphins et al can focus their sonar it's common knowledge.

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    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Ummm ... by tomhath · · Score: 1

      As I read it this study concludes that they not only focus the sound, but they can modify the sound cone at will. Narrower when farther away from their prey, open it up as they get closer to keep it in the beam.

    2. Re:Ummm ... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      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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      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Ummm ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyone who has seen a beluga whale up close (I've seen this at an aquarium) can notice that they re-shape their foreheads when sounding; It seemed pretty intuitive to me that this is what they were doing and assumed this had been studied before.

    4. Re:Ummm ... by PPH · · Score: 1

      Hasn't this been known for some time?

      I think so. Research dating back a few decades has associated cetacean melons 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.

      --
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  4. Why is this even news? by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 1

    What did they do, look up the wikipedia article?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...

    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, both sperm whales and killer whales can produce pulses strong enough to stun their prey."
    http://autocww.colorado.edu/~f...

    Stories about using it to stun fish have been around for over a decade
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

    Maybe the real news is that /. fell into a wormhole during the last outage and is reposting stories from 1999

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    Wherever You Go, There You Are
    1. Re:Why is this even news? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Did you read the article? They measured how their porpoises have control over the focus.

    2. Re:Why is this even news? by rossdee · · Score: 1

      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'.

    3. Re:Why is this even news? by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 1

      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

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
    4. Re:Why is this even news? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      The ability to focus an eye is a relatively specialized adaptation. There's also this thing in science about not making groundless assumptions.

    5. Re:Why is this even news? by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 2

      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?

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
  5. Nuclear Wessels... in Alamida by ichthus · · Score: 1

    How many of you know what cetaceans are, because of Star Trek IV?

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    sig: sauer
    1. Re:Nuclear Wessels... in Alamida by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 2

      Nope, but I get big laughs by picking up the mouse and trying to dictate into it

      --
      Wherever You Go, There You Are
    2. Re:Nuclear Wessels... in Alamida by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Google, navigate to San Fransisco

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      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  6. Good news for some Americans by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

    You can navigate in the dark.

  7. So, dolphins can echo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmm, never knew that. Would be fun to play a game as a dolphin with this ability.

    1. Re: So, dolphins can echo? by ravenshrike · · Score: 1

      I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want, but I will kill you for that reference.

  8. Dolphin for my Dojo! by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    He could improve our Ki Ai :)

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  9. How could they survive if they couldn't do this? by Karmashock · · Score: 1

    It just seems like an obvious finding... like... birds can control which way they move in the air when they fly...

    Really?

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  10. Didn't John Lilly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...document this years old?

  11. Fukushima by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whales can focus the subsonic sounds they make in concert, causing earthquakes and tsunamis in countries hunting whales.