Hydrodynamic Trail-Following in Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina)
@article{Dehnhardt2001HydrodynamicTI, title={Hydrodynamic Trail-Following in Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina)}, author={Guido Dehnhardt and Björn Mauck and Wolf Hanke and Horst Bleckmann}, journal={Science}, year={2001}, volume={293}, pages={102 - 104} }
Marine mammals often forage in dark or turbid waters. Whereas dolphins use echolocation under such conditions, pinnipeds apparently lack this sensory ability. For seals hunting in the dark, one source of sensory information may consist of fish-generated water movements, which seals can detect with their highly sensitive whiskers. Water movements in the wake of fishes persist for several minutes. Here we show that blindfolded seals can use their whiskers to detect and accurately follow…
295 Citations
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