The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar
Sperm whales use their gigantic nose to produce the most powerful sounds in the animal kingdom, presumably to echolocate deep-sea prey at long ranges and possibly to debilitate prey. To test these hypotheses, we deployed sound recording tags (DTAG-4) on the tip of the nose of three sperm whales. One...
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Online Access: | https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/the-longrange-echo-scene-of-the-sperm-whale-biosonar(74720ba8-7d66-46b5-89fd-5431ba75112a).html https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0134 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089132624&partnerID=8YFLogxK https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7480161/pdf/rsbl20200134.pdf |
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ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/74720ba8-7d66-46b5-89fd-5431ba75112a 2023-05-15T18:26:39+02:00 The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar Tønnesen, Pernille Oliveira, Cláudia Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter Teglberg 2020-08 https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/the-longrange-echo-scene-of-the-sperm-whale-biosonar(74720ba8-7d66-46b5-89fd-5431ba75112a).html https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0134 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089132624&partnerID=8YFLogxK https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7480161/pdf/rsbl20200134.pdf eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Tønnesen , P , Oliveira , C , Johnson , M & Madsen , P T 2020 , ' The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar ' , Biology Letters , vol. 16 , no. 8 , 20200134 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0134 acoustic debilitation acoustic scene DTAG prey selection sensory ecology toothed whale article 2020 ftuniaarhuspubl https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0134 2022-04-06T22:50:45Z Sperm whales use their gigantic nose to produce the most powerful sounds in the animal kingdom, presumably to echolocate deep-sea prey at long ranges and possibly to debilitate prey. To test these hypotheses, we deployed sound recording tags (DTAG-4) on the tip of the nose of three sperm whales. One of these recordings yielded over 6000 echo streams from organisms detected up to 144 m ahead of the whale, supporting a long-range prey detection function of the sperm whale biosonar. The whale navigated this complex acoustic scene by maintaining a stable, long-range acoustic gaze suggesting continual resource evaluation. Less than 10% of the echoic organisms recorded by the tag were targeted for capture and only 18% of the buzzes were emitted within the 50 m depth interval of maximum organism encounter rate, demonstrating echo-guided prey selection. Buzzes were initiated more than 20 m from the prey, showing that sperm whales do not debilitate their prey with sound, but trade echo levels for reduced forward masking and rapid updates on prey location in keeping with the lower manoeuvrability of these large predators. We conclude that the powerful biosonar of sperm whales enables long-range echolocation and selection of prey, but not acoustic debilitation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sperm whale toothed whale Aarhus University: Research Biology Letters 16 8 20200134 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Aarhus University: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftuniaarhuspubl |
language |
English |
topic |
acoustic debilitation acoustic scene DTAG prey selection sensory ecology toothed whale |
spellingShingle |
acoustic debilitation acoustic scene DTAG prey selection sensory ecology toothed whale Tønnesen, Pernille Oliveira, Cláudia Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter Teglberg The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar |
topic_facet |
acoustic debilitation acoustic scene DTAG prey selection sensory ecology toothed whale |
description |
Sperm whales use their gigantic nose to produce the most powerful sounds in the animal kingdom, presumably to echolocate deep-sea prey at long ranges and possibly to debilitate prey. To test these hypotheses, we deployed sound recording tags (DTAG-4) on the tip of the nose of three sperm whales. One of these recordings yielded over 6000 echo streams from organisms detected up to 144 m ahead of the whale, supporting a long-range prey detection function of the sperm whale biosonar. The whale navigated this complex acoustic scene by maintaining a stable, long-range acoustic gaze suggesting continual resource evaluation. Less than 10% of the echoic organisms recorded by the tag were targeted for capture and only 18% of the buzzes were emitted within the 50 m depth interval of maximum organism encounter rate, demonstrating echo-guided prey selection. Buzzes were initiated more than 20 m from the prey, showing that sperm whales do not debilitate their prey with sound, but trade echo levels for reduced forward masking and rapid updates on prey location in keeping with the lower manoeuvrability of these large predators. We conclude that the powerful biosonar of sperm whales enables long-range echolocation and selection of prey, but not acoustic debilitation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tønnesen, Pernille Oliveira, Cláudia Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter Teglberg |
author_facet |
Tønnesen, Pernille Oliveira, Cláudia Johnson, Mark Madsen, Peter Teglberg |
author_sort |
Tønnesen, Pernille |
title |
The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar |
title_short |
The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar |
title_full |
The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar |
title_fullStr |
The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar |
title_full_unstemmed |
The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar |
title_sort |
long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/the-longrange-echo-scene-of-the-sperm-whale-biosonar(74720ba8-7d66-46b5-89fd-5431ba75112a).html https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0134 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089132624&partnerID=8YFLogxK https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7480161/pdf/rsbl20200134.pdf |
genre |
Sperm whale toothed whale |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale toothed whale |
op_source |
Tønnesen , P , Oliveira , C , Johnson , M & Madsen , P T 2020 , ' The long-range echo scene of the sperm whale biosonar ' , Biology Letters , vol. 16 , no. 8 , 20200134 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0134 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0134 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
20200134 |
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1766208628770996224 |