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Built-in ear plugs: whales may turn down their hearing sensitivitywhen warned of an impending loud by ferujkll sdff
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Built-in ear plugs: whales may turn down their hearing sensitivitywhen warned of an impending loud by FERUJKLL SDFF
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| Article Posted: 07/03/2012 |
| Article Views: 97 |
| Articles Written: 2023 - MORE ARTICLES FROM THIS AUTHOR |
| Word Count: 429 |
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Built-in ear plugs: whales may turn down their hearing sensitivitywhen warned of an impending loud |
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The scientists will present the finding at the Acoustics 2012meeting in Hong Kong, May 13-18, a joint meeting of the AcousticalSociety of America (ASA), Acoustical Society of China, WesternPacific Acoustics Conference, and the Hong Kong Institute ofAcoustics. "Whale hearing may be the most fascinating marine mammalsense," says Paul Nachtigall, a biologist at the University ofHawaii who started his career studying otter vision, but soonswitched to whale and dolphin echolocation. Earlier experiments byNachtigall and his colleagues suggested that whales can activelyshield their hearing from loud outgoing echolocation clicks, whichcan reach sound levels equivalent to a rifle fired right next tothe ear. The scientists wondered if the animals could similarlyprotect their ears from incoming loud noises. The team repeatedly played a short warning sound followed by a loudsound to a false killer whale working in the laboratory in afloating facility off Coconut Island at the Hawaii Institute ofMarine Biology.
They measured the animal's hearing sensitivity byplacing suction-cup sensors on the skin of the whale's head andrecording the frequency of its brainwaves. Initial results indicatethat the whale significantly reduces its hearing sensitivity whenwarned that a very loud noise is about to arrive. "It appears as though the whales learn this pairing of warningsignal and loud sound rapidly through classical conditioning,"says Nachtigall. Many human activities such as oil exploration andthe use of ships' sonar create loud noises in the ocean.
If wildwhales could quickly learn the meaning of a short warning sound,the technique might help lessen the impact of anthropogenic noiseon marine mammals, Nachtigall notes. Whales' auditory systems are similar to other mammals' instructure, but larger in size, most likely because they haveevolved for the special task of echolocation. Right now scientistsaren't certain how the whales are able to adjust their hearingsensitivity. Bats, which also use sound to navigate, automaticallycontract muscles in their ears to reduce hearing sensitivity whilethey produce loud outgoing echolocation calls.
Nachtigall says thatwhales may do something similar, but that understanding themechanism will take considerably more work. "We think -- basedon much of our echolocation work -- that it is much more than asimple reflex," he says. So far, the team has only tested the warning signals with one falsekiller whale. In the future they would like to test additionalspecies of marine mammals.
"We are also very interested in howlong it takes a naïve animal to learn to lower its sensitivitywhen warned," Nachtigall says. I am Motherboards writer, reports some information about yellow leather shoes , animal bally shoes.
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