Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning
The sperm whale carries a hypertrophied nose that generates powerful clicks for long-range echolocation. However, it remains a conundrum how this bizarrely shaped apex predator catches its prey. Several hypotheses have been advanced to propose both active and passive means to acquire prey, including...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4919788 2023-05-15T18:26:39+02:00 Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning Fais, A. Johnson, M. Wilson, M. Aguilar Soto, N. Madsen, P. T. 2016-06-24 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4919788/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27340122 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28562 en eng Nature Publishing Group http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4919788/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27340122 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep28562 Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Article Text 2016 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28562 2016-07-03T00:26:22Z The sperm whale carries a hypertrophied nose that generates powerful clicks for long-range echolocation. However, it remains a conundrum how this bizarrely shaped apex predator catches its prey. Several hypotheses have been advanced to propose both active and passive means to acquire prey, including acoustic debilitation of prey with very powerful clicks. Here we test these hypotheses by using sound and movement recording tags in a fine-scale study of buzz sequences to relate the acoustic behaviour of sperm whales with changes in acceleration in their head region during prey capture attempts. We show that in the terminal buzz phase, sperm whales reduce inter-click intervals and estimated source levels by 1–2 orders of magnitude. As a result, received levels at the prey are more than an order of magnitude below levels required for debilitation, precluding acoustic stunning to facilitate prey capture. Rather, buzzing involves high-frequency, low amplitude clicks well suited to provide high-resolution biosonar updates during the last stages of capture. The high temporal resolution helps to guide motor patterns during occasionally prolonged chases in which prey are eventually subdued with the aid of fast jaw movements and/or buccal suction as indicated by acceleration transients (jerks) near the end of buzzes. Text Sperm whale PubMed Central (PMC) Scientific Reports 6 1 |
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Article Fais, A. Johnson, M. Wilson, M. Aguilar Soto, N. Madsen, P. T. Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning |
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Article |
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The sperm whale carries a hypertrophied nose that generates powerful clicks for long-range echolocation. However, it remains a conundrum how this bizarrely shaped apex predator catches its prey. Several hypotheses have been advanced to propose both active and passive means to acquire prey, including acoustic debilitation of prey with very powerful clicks. Here we test these hypotheses by using sound and movement recording tags in a fine-scale study of buzz sequences to relate the acoustic behaviour of sperm whales with changes in acceleration in their head region during prey capture attempts. We show that in the terminal buzz phase, sperm whales reduce inter-click intervals and estimated source levels by 1–2 orders of magnitude. As a result, received levels at the prey are more than an order of magnitude below levels required for debilitation, precluding acoustic stunning to facilitate prey capture. Rather, buzzing involves high-frequency, low amplitude clicks well suited to provide high-resolution biosonar updates during the last stages of capture. The high temporal resolution helps to guide motor patterns during occasionally prolonged chases in which prey are eventually subdued with the aid of fast jaw movements and/or buccal suction as indicated by acceleration transients (jerks) near the end of buzzes. |
format |
Text |
author |
Fais, A. Johnson, M. Wilson, M. Aguilar Soto, N. Madsen, P. T. |
author_facet |
Fais, A. Johnson, M. Wilson, M. Aguilar Soto, N. Madsen, P. T. |
author_sort |
Fais, A. |
title |
Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning |
title_short |
Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning |
title_full |
Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning |
title_fullStr |
Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning |
title_sort |
sperm whale predator-prey interactions involve chasing and buzzing, but no acoustic stunning |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4919788/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27340122 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28562 |
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Sperm whale |
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Sperm whale |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4919788/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27340122 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep28562 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28562 |
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Scientific Reports |
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