10 unusual senses fauna of the world

The only way of knowing the world passes through our senses. Therefore, the senses - is the foundation for understanding what is happening around us. It is believed that we have five senses, but in reality there are at least nine, and maybe more, depending on what we mean by the word "feeling."

But be that as it may, the world of animals in this regard is ready to confound any of us. Some animals have abilities that are inherent in the people, but the animals are much more developed, in connection with which we perceive the reality around us in a completely different way.

1. Electronic beak

At first, the description of the platypus - mammal with a duck's beak, which incubates the eggs, was seen as a joke. Well, what's the point in a ridiculous duck bill?

Platypus feeds on small invertebrates that live on the bottom of rivers and lakes. When he dives, eyes, nostrils and ears are completely closed - so that water does not leak. platypus beak packed with sensitive sensors can capture even weak electric fields that arise in the movement of living organisms.

Along with the capture of the electric fields, the platypus beak is also very sensitive to disturbances occurring in the water column. These two feelings - Electroreception and mechanoreception allow platypus determine the location of the victim with remarkable accuracy.

2. Echolocation

The bats have traditionally been considered blind compared to conventional animals. If the bat's eyes are much smaller than those of other predators, and not such keen, it is only because these mammals have developed the ability to hunt with the help of sound.

Echolocation of bats is the ability to use high-frequency sound pulses and the ability to pick up the reflected signal, in which they assess the distance and direction to surrounding objects. At the same time, calculating the speed of insects, they evaluate their prey not only on time spent on the passage of the pulse back and forth, but also take into account the Doppler effect. Being nocturnal and hunt mainly on small insects, bats require capabilities beyond the control of light. People have little rudimentary form of this feeling (we can see which side came the sound), but some individuals develop this ability in real echolocation.

3. Infrared vision

When the police pursuing criminals at night, or rescuers searching for people under the rubble, they often resorted to using devices with an infrared image. A significant portion of the thermal radiation of objects at room temperature is shown in the infrared spectrum that may be used to estimate the surrounding objects based on their temperature.

Some species of snakes that prey on warm-blooded animals have special grooves on the head, allows you to capture infrared light. Even after blinding the snake can continue to accurately shoot, using his infrared vision. It is noteworthy that at the molecular level infrared vision serpent is absolutely not connected with the normal vision of the visible spectrum, and should be developed separately.

4. Ultraviolet

Many people would agree that the plants are beautiful. However, while the plants for us - just decoration, they are vital not only to themselves but also to insects that feed on them. Flowers that are pollinated by insects, "interested" in order to attract these insects and to help them find the right path. For bees appearance of a flower can mean much more than the human eye is able to see.

So, if you look at the flower in the ultraviolet spectrum, we can see the hidden patterns, intended to indicate the bees in the right direction.

Bees do not see the world as we are. Unlike us, they are several spectrums of visible light (blue and green), and have a special group of cells to capture ultraviolet radiation. A professor of botany once said: "Plants use color as a whore lipstick, when they want to attract the customer."

5. Magnetism

Bees also have a second sensory trick hidden in their little furry sleeves. For the bee hive to find at the end of a full day of continuous flight - it's a matter of life and death. For the hive, in turn, it is important to remember the bee, which is a food source and could find for him the way. But, despite the fact that bees have a lot, they can hardly be called an incredibly gifted intellectual abilities.

To navigate, they have to use a large amount of various information, including sources, hidden in his own abdomen. Smallest ring of magnetic particles, magnetic iron nuggets hidden in bee stomach, allow it to be guided in the earth's magnetic field and to determine its location.

6. Polarization of

When the oscillations of light waves in the same direction, it nazyvaetsyapolyarizatsiey. Users can not detect the polarization of light without the aid of special equipment, because the light-sensitive cells of our eyes are located randomly (irregularly). At the octopus, the cells are arranged. A smoother than cells located, the brighter the light the polarization.

How is it that allows you to hunt the octopus? One of the best forms of disguise - be transparent, and a lot of marine life are virtually invisible. However, under the water column there is a polarization of light, and some octopuses use it. When this light passes through the transparent body of the animal changes its polarization, octopus notices - and enough prey.

7. The sensor shell

People have the ability to feel the skin, because the whole of its surface-sensitive cells are located. If you put a protective suit, you will lose most of the sensitivities. This can give you a lot of inconvenience, but for hunting spider that would be a real disaster. Paku, like other arthropods, are durable exoskeleton that protects their body. But, in this case they feel that they touch, how to move around without feeling the surface of the legs? The fact that their exoskeleton has the smallest openings, the deformation of which allows to determine the force exerted on the shell and the pressure. This gives the opportunity to spiders perceive the world around them as hard as possible.

8. Taste

In most communities decided to hold his tongue. Unfortunately for catfish this is not possible, because his whole body, in fact, is a continuous language, nestled sensitive taste cells. More than 175 thousand of these cells allows you to experience the whole range of passing through them of flavors.

The ability to capture the subtlest taste nuances gives this fish an opportunity to not only feel the presence of prey at a distance, but also pinpoint its location, and it all happens in very troubled waters - a typical habitat soms.

9. Blind Light

Many organisms evolved in a dark environment, have only rudimentary, the remaining organs of sight, or even completely deprived eye. In any pitch black cave of the opportunity to see no benefit.

Cave fish "Astyanax mexicanus" completely lost his eyes, but instead nature gave her the opportunity to capture even the most subtle changes in lighting conditions that can only be under the rocky strata. This ability allows the fish to hide from predators, as a special pineal gland catches the light (as well as responsible for the sense of day and night).

These fish have a body is X-rayed, so that the light easily passes exactly through the pineal gland that helps them find shelter.

10. The dot matrix vision

The wildlife we ​​can find an amazing variety of shapes and types of eyes. Most of them consist of a lens, focusing light onto the light-sensitive cells (the retina), which project the image of the world around us. Lens images correct focus can change the shape of a man, to move back and forth, like an octopus, and use a lot of other ways.

For example, a representative of the species of crustaceans "Copilia quadrata" uses an unusual method for displaying the world. This crustacean uses two fixed lenses and a movable light-sensitive spot. Moving the sensitive detector, Copilia builds perceives the image as a series of numbered points, each of which is located in its place, as a function of illumination intensity.