The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal
Odontocete cetaceans use biosonar clicks to acoustically probe their aquatic environment with an aptitude unmatched by man-made sonar. A cornerstone of this ability is their use of short, broadband pulses produced in the region of the upper nasal passages. Here we provide empirical evidence that a b...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2679917 2023-05-15T15:41:34+02:00 The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal Lammers, Marc O. Castellote, Manuel 2009-03-04 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679917 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19324643 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0782 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679917 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19324643 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0782 © 2009 The Royal Society Research Article Text 2009 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0782 2013-09-02T12:56:04Z Odontocete cetaceans use biosonar clicks to acoustically probe their aquatic environment with an aptitude unmatched by man-made sonar. A cornerstone of this ability is their use of short, broadband pulses produced in the region of the upper nasal passages. Here we provide empirical evidence that a beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) uses two signal generators simultaneously when echolocating. We show that the pulses of the two generators are combined as they are transmitted through the melon to produce a single echolocation click emitted from the front of the animal. Generating two pulses probably offers the beluga the ability to control the energy and frequency distribution of the emitted click and may allow it to acoustically steer its echolocation beam. Text Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas PubMed Central (PMC) Biology Letters 5 3 297 301 |
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Research Article Lammers, Marc O. Castellote, Manuel The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal |
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Research Article |
description |
Odontocete cetaceans use biosonar clicks to acoustically probe their aquatic environment with an aptitude unmatched by man-made sonar. A cornerstone of this ability is their use of short, broadband pulses produced in the region of the upper nasal passages. Here we provide empirical evidence that a beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) uses two signal generators simultaneously when echolocating. We show that the pulses of the two generators are combined as they are transmitted through the melon to produce a single echolocation click emitted from the front of the animal. Generating two pulses probably offers the beluga the ability to control the energy and frequency distribution of the emitted click and may allow it to acoustically steer its echolocation beam. |
format |
Text |
author |
Lammers, Marc O. Castellote, Manuel |
author_facet |
Lammers, Marc O. Castellote, Manuel |
author_sort |
Lammers, Marc O. |
title |
The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal |
title_short |
The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal |
title_full |
The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal |
title_fullStr |
The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal |
title_full_unstemmed |
The beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal |
title_sort |
beluga whale produces two pulses to form its sonar signal |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679917 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19324643 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0782 |
genre |
Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679917 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19324643 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0782 |
op_rights |
© 2009 The Royal Society |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0782 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
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5 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
297 |
op_container_end_page |
301 |
_version_ |
1766374452718731264 |