Female elephant seals spend most of their lives fishing in complete darkness. Now, by strapping infrared cameras to their heads, scientists have figured out how these sleek swimmers use their whiskers to locate prey.
in complete darkness. Now, by strapping infrared cameras to their heads, scientists have figured out how these sleek swimmers locate their prey: They move their whiskers like satellite antennas to sense water movement.
has come to similar conclusions. But the new work is the first to show how seals use their whiskers in the wild while fishing, Grant says. The discovery didn’t come as a total surprise, as researchers in the field are used to seeing seals using their whiskers to investigate backpacks and other gear people leave on the ground while working, says co-author Rachel Holser, a marine biologist at UCSC. But she and her colleagues were not expecting to see such coordinated and rhythmic movement of the animals’ whiskers, which was never before observed in seals or any marine mammal in the wild.
just by sensing the water movement. Seals’ whiskers have up to 1500 nerve fibers, seven times more than mice.work with blindfolded seals in tanks
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