Who Has The Most Powerful Sense Of Smell In The Animal Kingdom? | Super Senses

anyone fascinated by the natural world has probably wondered why some animals have such strange looking sense organs the elephant with its huge ears the antenna of a butterfly which up close look like [Music] feathers the snake with its split tongue and what about less obvious enhancements like the sensory cells on a crocodile's skin surely these evolutionary traits aren't just for [Music] decoration in fact the size shape and location of these animal sense organs is all for a purpose and just like us animals rely on their senses to communicate with each other find their way around stay safe and most importantly to find food when you see how Superior some animal senses are compared to those of humans you might wonder how we ever manag to stay on top of the food chain animal super senses you won't believe what's possible [Music] [Music] hello and welcome to another installment of animal super senses the show where animal instincts and perception are the [Music] stars in this episode we examine how every animal has what could be called the sense of Rhythm the human animal included to give an obvious example there's our internal body clock that responds to circadian rhythm that's the 24-hour day and night cycle [Music] [Music] circadian rhythms are synchronized with what is known as photo period in simple terms the length of a [Music] day changes in the amount of available light are detected by mammals in a tiny area of the brain called the SN it's like a Master Clock which responds to the environment irental cycle some animals of course are dial mostly active during the day While others are nocturnal they sleep through the day and are busiest after the sun goes [Music] down but there are other rhythms with a longer cycle often in tune and affected by the [Music] seasons for example biologist recently identified a photo receptor cell deep inside the brains of birds which responds to Daylight and NightLight but also regulates breeding activity according to seasonal changes animals synchronize their body clocks for biological purposes such as reproduction hibernation fur color changes and migration but exactly what senses are at work to help animals keep in tune with the rhythms of day and night and the changing seasons the answers coming up in this episode may just surprise you [Music] did you know that all vertebrate animals which of course includes human beings have a special organ the pineal gland also known as the third eye which detects daily changes in the amount of light [Music] in human beings the pineal gland is located in the center of the brain but in birds reptiles and fish it is located on the forehead just underneath the skin for work a day dial animals the light sensitive pineal gland releases more melatonin during the night than by day this helps animals set their body clocks letting them know when to be active and when to go to [Music] sleep as mentioned humans have a pineal gland and this so-called third eye has long been attributed with mystical Powers since ancient times [Music] whatever its spiritual properties the pineal gland seems to help animals adhere to a 24-hour Rhythm and regulate their sleeping and waking [Music] Cycles some lizards frogs lampas and species of fish literally do have a third eye known as the parietal eye the Tuatara is a reptilian survivor of the dinosaur age and is found only in New Zealand in mammals the pineal gland is buried deeper inside the forehead meaning that it cannot receive light directly so how does it sense changes between day and night Recent research has found that the pineal gland is directly linked to the retina in eyes in dial mammals and again it includes us the Melatonin hormone makes us sleepy [Music] [Music] scientists have recently shown that in nocturnal animals the pineal gland still secretes melatonin even during Darkness During the period when night creatures become the most active so clearly melatonin is not the universal sleeping pill in some species it may have the opposite effect incidentally do you know how much sleep the average adult requires that's right only 5 more minutes excuse the levity of course the whole cycle of life is in so many ways dependent on timing the changing seasons has an impact on reproductive Cycles in many species animals like these Rocky Mountain big horn sheep found in high places from British Columbia to Arizona live their entire lives in sync with the changing of the seasons changes in temperature and the lengthening or shortening of days I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required these are keenly felt at high altitudes the timing of The Mating Season becomes vitally important in harsh climates meeting occurs at a particular time so that the young may be born when the weather is at its mildest and resources are most abundant staying in Arizona where these prong horn Antelope are most definitely seasonal breeders mating season begins with a headbutting contest between males as they compete for mating rights and access to females bucks separate from others in August and begin hanging around with the doze male pronghorns Grunt and snort pushing and fighting the other bucks to gain the attention of females they rub their antlers on trees and bushes marking areas with their scent it's an impressive display but it won't won't be totally unfamiliar to anyone who watches so-called reality television dating shows [Music] [Music] [Music] this sense of timing is found throughout the an animal realm in such phenomenon as hibernation fur color changes or migration we'll take a look at all of these in due course but first up let's see if we can both get our lips and your heads around a state of suspended development called embryonic diapause it's just what it sounds like embryonic diapause that is the embryo takes a pause meaning the embryo does not immediately implant in the uterus but is maintained in the state of dorcy by far the most famous case of this state of Arrested Development takes place in the Outbacks of Australia this is a reproductive strategy so kangaroo mums can time the birth of their young in order to avoid going into labor during unfavorable environmental conditions such as droughts when the time is right the embryo is reactivated the little Joey kangaroo is born and then crawls into its mother's pouch this phenomenon occurs in a number of marsupial species but is especially prevalent among Kangaroos and Wales this is also known as delayed implantation [Music] it's something common to rodents Bears weasels and Badgers too the arrested development of a joey almost pales in comparison with how some animals are able to shut down everything but vital signs during that state of suspended animation we know as hibernation and the world's super hibernator is undoubtedly this fearsome looking Predator the black [Applause] [Music] bear also known as the American black bear though they can be found in large numbers across the border in Canada as well [Music] American or Canadian it doesn't matter in any case the black bear hibernates 5 to 7 months of the year during which time it does not eat drink urinate or defecate during this period they completely throw all their other circadian rhythms out the window as they move from Summer to Autumn black bears and indeed bears in general begin feeding even more than usual males and females will Gorge themselves on an average of 30,000 calories a day we don't advise that you try this at home this conspicuous consumption is all for a reason it creates a layer of fat which will act as insulation in kind of a metabolic reservoir for their time in super hibernation now Chipmunks are of course hibernators too so let's compare what they get up to with the habits of the black bear when the Chipmunk goes into a deep sleep its body temperature can drop by more than 6.6 de C the upshot is that the Chipmunk must wake up every few days and feed like no body's business the metabolism of a black bear on the other paw will slow to where they are taking just one or two breaths per minute and their hearts beat 8 to 12 times per [Music] minute but this is not a competition and there's no doubt that many small mammals such as Chipmunks but also woodchucks and ground squirrels are some world class [Music] hibernators the hibernation habits of the Arctic ground squirrel are surely worthy of note a year-round resident of the Arctic tundra this ground squirrel has a hibernation period of up to 7 to 8 months [Music] during its deep sleep the Arctic ground squirrel's core body temperature drops just below freezing once every 2 to 3 weeks or so it Shivers and shakes without waking for more than a dozen hours at a time to reheat its body [Music] another way in which animals have the sense to register changes in seasons is by changing into their winter wardrobes the arctic fox is a classic case in point life can be difficult for this elegant looking little creature but the arctic fox makes the best of its lot praying on whatever creatures it can find for survival including lemons and vs and perhaps to make life on the tundra a little less solitary of a journey the arctic fox is a monogamous creature and mates for Life they're also relatively involved parents with mother and father helping to raise the average of 5 to eight Cubs be that as it may let's get back to the Arctic Fox's fashion sense during the short arctic summer its fur is a brown color [Music] as winter sets in the fur thickens and turns white thicker for obvious reasons white so that the creatures camouflage matches the season and that of course means white as snow animals body clocks can last longer than a day or a season or even a whole year [Music] [Music] to illustrate we leave the frozen tundra of the Arctic behind and travel to the deciduous forests of the Eastern United States the principal habitat of the periodical cicas also known as magicas cicas spend a lot of time Underground in fact the vast majority of their lives [Music] for a period of either 13 or 17 years both prime numbers you will note cic stay underfoot feeding on the roots of deciduous trees and yet slowly ever so slowly over this time they develop and mature then finally for a bit of few glorious weeks when the almost adult cicas are at the so-called nymph stage they emerge from the ground in large numbers they shed their skins one last time and after a few days their exoskeletons Harden completely then they take to disguise singing The Familiar cicada mating call to find a mate [Music] [Music] the question is after every 13 or 17 years how do they know when to come out in such precise intervals Recent research thinks they may be keeping track of the sap Cycles in trees but still no one knows for sure one thing we haven't really touched on in our examination of animal timing is the effect of the moon on animals for the lunar cycle governs the timing of natural events as much as the [Music] sun a long way from cicas at the edge of the ocean in this case the coral reefs around the Gold Coast of [Music] Australia we can see clearly how life is affected by the lunar cycle especially in underwater life n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for just one week of every year in Spring after a full moon millions of corals will release their eggs in sperm in a symphony of reproductive activity [Music] [Music] [Music] this spectacular example of group sex which is what it is if you think about it has long been a source of fascination but up until less than a decade ago it was a mystery how these seemingly primitive beings which somehow get through life without brains or eyes synchronized their annual Mass [Music] spawning but in 2007 scientists were able to isolate an ancient Gene in the coral which is capable of detecting [Music] Moonlight on animal super senses every episode serves to demonstrate that while we like to think of ourselves at the top of the food chain when we look at our senses compared to the phenomenal abilities of other animals we are just fumbling in the dark with earmuffs on see you next time on animal super senses anyone fascinated by the natural world has probably wondered why some animals have such strange looking sense organs the elephant with its huge ears the antenna of a butterfly which up close look like [Music] feathers the snake with its split tongue and what about less obvious enhancements like the sensory cells on a crocodile's skin surely these evolutionary traits aren't just for [Music] decoration in fact the size shape and location of these animal sense organs is all for a purpose and just like us animals rely on their senses to communicate with each other find their way around stay safe and most importantly to find food when you see how Superior some animal senses are compared to those of humans you might wonder how we ever managed to stay on top of the food chain animal super senses you won't believe what's possible welcome to animal super senses the show that plugs you in to how animals experience the world often with sharper and more evolved senses is than the one species who likes to think of itself as the top of the food chain that would be us of course while all life began in the oceans human beings now rely on technology to navigate the Seven Seas left to our own devices we're like the proverbial real fish out of water only the other way around once underwater with light diminished our vision becomes blurred our hearing becomes muffled and distorted and our sense of smell is rendered completely [Music] useless now compare that for example to that renowned Predator the great white shark this elegant killing machine is perfectly attuned to every site sound scent chemical and electrical signal of its marine environment we'll pay a slightly nervous visit to the great white a little later in the episode but first listening carefully because the sense of hearing enters a whole another dimension when applied to creatures of the deep hearing is critical for Animals such as the sperm or humpback [Music] whale for one thing light fractures and weakens underwater so Vision becomes a less important tool for surv [Music] sural sound however travels further in the water than in the air so for whales it's critically important as a way of communicating most famously as in the song of the humpback [Music] whale humpback whales are members of the satation family which includes whales dolphins and porpuses all of which have well-developed senses of hearing in the case of this humpback whale its outer ear is a very small opening that closes once underwater instead it picks up on waterborne vibrations through bones in its head Good Vibrations that ultimately reach its middle and inner [Music] [Applause] ears fascinatingly the ancestors of the whale actually walked on land packet SE today or Pakistani whales lived on the shores of the Indian subcontinent and began to diversify making for the water some 53 million years ago give or take more about them and their ancestors later in the show meanwhile to be a little bit more specific about what hearing is it's the ability to sense Sonic vibrations sound and what is known as vibrational stimuli they pretty much amount out to the same thing underwater the scene now is the coral triangle this is the area of tropical Marine Waters around Malaysia the Philippines Indonesia and East teore a Tropical Paradise in many regards sometimes known as the Amazon of the Seas [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] but one that the World Wildlife Foundation is keeping a close eye on to ensure human activity doesn't spoil this particular Paradise too among the countless species that call the coral triangle home you'll find plenty of spilop PODS plenty of what spilop pods like cuttlefish and this octopus are invertebrate spineless mollusks with generally large heads and symmetrical [Music] [Music] [Applause] bodies for over a century there's been a debate as to whether these creatures are capable of [Music] hearing but the consensus seems now to be that they can either by something called the statocyst organ a fluid-filled sack lined with sensory hairs that also helps them to maintain balance or they can hear via lateral lines similar to that found in fish visible lines on the fish's body comprised of sense organs which detect pressures and vibrations now of course there are more fish than you can shake a million fish sticks at in the coral triangle and chances are they'd hear you when you shook those sticks at them because as any goldfish owner can tell you at any kind of threatening sound a fish will curl into a tight C shape and head in the opposite direction [Music] so whether in a goldfish bowl or the coral triangle we know that fish can hear but believe it or not scientists are somewhat divided as to how here are the two main theories the bodies of fish have about the same density as water which means that sound passes through their bodies but fish have bones in their inner ear which are called ooliths these bones are denser than both the water and the fish's body this means these bones move at a slower Pace than the rest of the fish's body and also the speed of the sound waves the upshot of this is that the difference in speed between the aoth bones and the rest of the fish's body Ruffles the hairy sensor cells located in its inner ear this differential movement is interrupted by the brain as sound then there are the lateral lines we mentioned before these are essentially a set of tubes located just under the fishes or in this case the shark's body water enters these tubes through the pores of the skin the tubes are lined with hair cells which are connected in turn to sensory nerves when anything gets close to a shark the water running through the lateral lines moves to and [Music] fro this stimulates the sensory cells which alerts the animal to whatever prey or Predators may be in the vicinity when we talk about animal super senses perhaps no animal fits the bill more than the shark in the popular imagination we imagine them like this black tip shark moving stealthily through the water and then seizing their prey without Mercy Relentless and Unstoppable and that's about the size of it their senses are also supremely well adjusted to make them effective underwater Predators for one thing they have a particularly acute sense of smell unlike for example human beings sharks have separate and distinct openings for breathing and for smelling the gills on the side of their heads are for breathing only and serve to capture oxygen in the water meanwhile two nostrils to the front of their heads pull water into a nasal chamber specifically dedicated to detecting smells perhaps one reason a shark's nose works so well is because it doesn't have to do anything else breathing is accomplished with their gills and a shark's sense of smell is not in any way connected to its mouth but a shark's sensory Arsenal doesn't end there sharks come with a unique sense organ is standard equipment something called the ampulle of laurenzini they were first described back in the 17th century by one Stephano laurenzini they consist of small clusters of electrically sensitive receptor cells found just under the skin these are connected to the Water by pores on the Shar snout and head what the ampulle of laurenzini do for the shark is to outfit it with Electro reception in a nutshell Electro reception means the shark can sense the bioelectric fields generated by other animals and use it to locate them and hey you'd expect the ultimate Predator to know where its next meal is coming from right black tip sharks like these share the Waters of the coral triangle with a satation known for its hearty appetite the sperm well [Music] and also with the sperm Well's distant cousin the dolphin a Marine Mammal who is no slouch in the appetite Department either they may be enthusiastic eaters but they don't exactly enjoy their food in any way we might understand you see just about all vertebrates enjoy five primary tastes sweet salty sour bitter and Umami except that is for cation such as dolphins and whales [Music] new research has revealed at some point in their evolutionary Journey they lost the ability to perceive anything but salt scientists believe this took place between 53 million years ago at the point when whale ancestors pacac day took to the Seas and 36 million years ago when they split into two groups toothed and bailing whales then again if you swallow your food instead of chewing it perhaps not having a sense of taste isn't such a great loss [Music] what about underwater Vision all you need to do is hold your head underwater for a few seconds and you'll see that our eyes are not adapted for vision underwater no they've evolved for viewing an air everything is a blur underwater right that's because light rays Bend when they travel from one medium to another from Air to water water refracts light at roughly the same degree as the cornea of the human eye which effectively eliminates our ability to focus fish eyes are more spherical in shape allowing them to focus under the waves in many cases they're also sensitive to a larger range of the color spectrum including ultraviolet light as light passes through deeper and deeper waters more color is absorbed and [Music] diluted the water filters out the color red at first then yellow then green and then Violet the color blue is the last to go and yet as recent studies show ultraviolet light penetrates far deeper into the water than used to be thought could this be the reason why so many fish are so very colorful that while they color might to the human eye be muted by the ocean depths to a fish with ultraviolet sight these creatures still stand out as bright and [Music] beautiful the answer appears to be yes in some cases many coral reef fish for example are brightly hued coming in a dazzling array of colors the harlean tuskfish Mandarin fish Coral trout Regal angel fish and stoplight parrot fish all spring to mind scientists believe that some fish use their brightly colored skins to attract a mate but as with so much in nature it's more complicated than that for color is also employed by some fish as a warning system a warning to back off and stay away lion fish for example are thought to utilize their brightly colored bodies to communicate to other animals that is best to stay away from them and more especially their highly venomous spines then again there are instances when fish like to blend in with their surroundings literally it's called cryptic coloring and it enables some species of fish to camouflage themselves a predator like the great white shark might seem like the last customer who would need to hide itself away but the great white along with many other open fish uses countershading to camouflage itself on a regular basis but one of the strangest and most effective underwater senses is known as echolocation this is very much what it sounds like in a way being able to locate something because of its Echo it's also known as sonar which humans have studied and replicated for example for use in submarines in Naval Warfare this is a system for detecting objects underwater by emitting a sound pulse and then being able to detect and measure it upon its return to find out where something is its size and so on call it seeing with sound because in effect that's what it is dolphin use echolocation all the [Music] time like all toothed whales dophins have specialized fat located in their jaws which convey sound waves from the ocean to their ears they use echol location to Crater feed meaning to find prey underneath the sand because unlike other senses echol location can penetrate or see through solid matter it's a primary sense for dolphins and other species of toothed whales that's right a dolphin is also a type of whale a type of toothed whale to be precise other varieties of toothed whales include sperm whales killer whales and beaked whales all of these creatures use sonar or echolocation to guide them through the oceans to communicate and to detect prey as you'll recall the distant 50 million years plus distant ancestors of Wales were actually land dwelling mammals who probably saw things quite well in the open air echolocation helped them adapt to life underwater navigating the open ocean with its Shifty currents and expansive water for most animals is no easy feat but sea turtles have to face up to the challenge there are seven species of sea turtles found in the oceans all around the world they spend their first few years floating in the open sea where they Feast on jellyfish and other creatures but at some point they need to find their way to the beach to breed and it's not just any Beach they return to the one they were born on how they actually do this is still being debated but it's thought they may use the Earth's magnetic field as a queue and perhaps their sense of smell plays a role as well on this stretch of South American Shoreline an olive Ridley Turtle climers slowly up the beach this female adult is about to lay a clutch of eggs over 100 eggs can be deposited in a nest at any one time once the eggs are buried the adult returns to the [Music] water after incubating for over 45 days hatchlings emerge to begin a perilous Journey they Race To The Border's Edge but vultures with a taste for turtle are patrum and even when they reach the sea it's still not safe few hatchlings make it to the feeding grounds in the open ocean it could be why the olive Ridleys have a remarkable nesting strategy in a spectacular Mass nesting get together known as as in arada thousands of females come ashore simultaneously to lay eggs how the females know the time is right is unknown they may release a scent that cues the start but with no conclusive answer the arada continues to be one of Nature's great secrets on animal super senses we've taken you from the surface to the depths of the Seven Seas to seek out the treasures below from the tiny colorful fish of the coral reef to the mighty sperm whale we've explored how these creatures hear the vast beauty of the ocean World it could make you wonder why our ancestors ever came out of the water in the first place just be sure we'll come to our senses again next time on animals super senses [Music] [Music]

Channel: Real Wild

Views: 7,350

Keywords: Real Wild, amazing animal senses, animal adaptations, animal behavior, animal intelligence, animal kingdom discoveries, animal kingdom marvels, animal senses, animal superpowers, animal survival, animal survival strategies, animals and their senses, circadian rhythms, extraordinary abilities, finding food, nature documentaries, nature's beauty, navigating environments, sensory marvels, wilderness documentaries, wildlife wonders

Id: wqroXe90sYU

Length: 51min 39sec (3099 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 02 2024