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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.

5 of 25 comments (clear)

  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!

    --
    "99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
    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. 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
  3. 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