Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina)
For seals hunting in dark and murky waters one source of sensory information for locating prey consists of fish-generated water movements, which they can detect using their highly sensitive mystacial vibrissae. As water movements in the wake of fishes can persist for several minutes, hydrodynamic tr...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jexbio:210/5/781 2023-05-15T16:33:38+02:00 Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) Schulte-Pelkum, N. Wieskotten, S. Hanke, W. Dehnhardt, G. Mauck, B. 2007-03-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/210/5/781 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02708 en eng Company of Biologists http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/210/5/781 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02708 Copyright (C) 2007, Company of Biologists Research Article TEXT 2007 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02708 2015-02-28T16:27:16Z For seals hunting in dark and murky waters one source of sensory information for locating prey consists of fish-generated water movements, which they can detect using their highly sensitive mystacial vibrissae. As water movements in the wake of fishes can persist for several minutes, hydrodynamic trails of considerable length are generated. It has been demonstrated that seals can use their vibrissae to detect and track hydrodynamic trails generated artificially by miniature submarines. In the present study, we trained a harbour seal to swim predefined courses, thus generating biogenic hydrodynamic trails. The structure of these trails was measured using Particle Image Velocimetry. A second seal was trained to search for and track the trail after the trail-generating seal had left the water. Our trail-following seal was able to detect and accurately track the hydrodynamic trail, showing search patterns either mostly congruent with the trail or crossing the trail repeatedly in an undulatory way. The undulatory trail-following search pattern might allow a seal to relocate a lost trail or successfully track a fleeing, zigzagging prey fish. Text harbour seal Phoca vitulina HighWire Press (Stanford University) Journal of Experimental Biology 210 5 781 787 |
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Open Polar |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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fthighwire |
language |
English |
topic |
Research Article |
spellingShingle |
Research Article Schulte-Pelkum, N. Wieskotten, S. Hanke, W. Dehnhardt, G. Mauck, B. Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
For seals hunting in dark and murky waters one source of sensory information for locating prey consists of fish-generated water movements, which they can detect using their highly sensitive mystacial vibrissae. As water movements in the wake of fishes can persist for several minutes, hydrodynamic trails of considerable length are generated. It has been demonstrated that seals can use their vibrissae to detect and track hydrodynamic trails generated artificially by miniature submarines. In the present study, we trained a harbour seal to swim predefined courses, thus generating biogenic hydrodynamic trails. The structure of these trails was measured using Particle Image Velocimetry. A second seal was trained to search for and track the trail after the trail-generating seal had left the water. Our trail-following seal was able to detect and accurately track the hydrodynamic trail, showing search patterns either mostly congruent with the trail or crossing the trail repeatedly in an undulatory way. The undulatory trail-following search pattern might allow a seal to relocate a lost trail or successfully track a fleeing, zigzagging prey fish. |
format |
Text |
author |
Schulte-Pelkum, N. Wieskotten, S. Hanke, W. Dehnhardt, G. Mauck, B. |
author_facet |
Schulte-Pelkum, N. Wieskotten, S. Hanke, W. Dehnhardt, G. Mauck, B. |
author_sort |
Schulte-Pelkum, N. |
title |
Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) |
title_short |
Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) |
title_full |
Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) |
title_fullStr |
Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) |
title_sort |
tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (phoca vitulina) |
publisher |
Company of Biologists |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/210/5/781 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02708 |
genre |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
op_relation |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/210/5/781 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02708 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2007, Company of Biologists |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02708 |
container_title |
Journal of Experimental Biology |
container_volume |
210 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
781 |
op_container_end_page |
787 |
_version_ |
1766023312254697472 |