{"id":183666,"date":"2024-02-26T11:50:54","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T17:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/bottlenose-dolphins-become-one-of-few-known-mammals-with-a-seventh-sense"},"modified":"2024-02-26T11:50:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T17:50:54","slug":"bottlenose-dolphins-become-one-of-few-known-mammals-with-a-seventh-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/bottlenose-dolphins-become-one-of-few-known-mammals-with-a-seventh-sense","title":{"rendered":"Bottlenose Dolphins Become One Of Few Known Mammals With A \u201cSeventh Sense\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dloV7wJOiYg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The first study of bottlenose dolphins\u2019 sensitivity to electric fields has found some can detect electric direct current (DC) fields as weak as 2.4 microvolts per centimeter, even better than the measured capacities of platypus. Although still less capable in this regard than sharks and rays, the finding suggests electroreceptivity may play a more important role in dolphins\u2019 survival than previously suspected.<\/p>\n<p>Dolphins have small pits rich in nerve endings on their face, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/rats-use-their-whiskers-humans-use-their-fingers-25006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vibrissal<\/a> crypts. A <a href=\"https:\/\/anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/ar.24773\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2022 study<\/a> confirmed<strong> <\/strong>these allow them to detect weak electric fields, but provided no indication on how weak that can be. It makes sense for species that live in murky rivers or estuaries to develop alternatives to seeing underwater, but for those dolphins that inhabit clearer waters such capacities might prove superfluous.<\/p>\n<p>However, it seems even in their frequently crystal-clear waters bottlenose dolphins find electrosensitivity useful enough they have maintained it to a considerable degree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first study of bottlenose dolphins\u2019 sensitivity to electric fields has found some can detect electric direct current (DC) fields as weak as 2.4 microvolts per centimeter, even better than the measured capacities of platypus. Although still less capable in this regard than sharks and rays, the finding suggests electroreceptivity may play a more important [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-futurism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}