Seals use their whiskers for something very curious

The depths of the ocean are an extremely dark place. So much so that some of the animals living there become small swimming lanterns, emitting luminescence from their bodies. But this bioluminescence is not enough to enable much larger aquatic animals to perform essential tasks like hunting. It is known that some cetaceans, such as whalesuse echolocation. But other mammals like sealsThey don’t have that ability. For this reason, their strategy for hunting in the dark remained a mystery for a long time. Now we know that his secret trick is actually in his own body. Specifically in his mustache.

This is the conclusion of a study recently published in PNAS by scientists at the University of California. In it, they installed a series of cameras on the cheeks of a group of seals for analysis. how they use their whiskers for hunting.

The camera method was very important because until now the use of whiskers by seals has only been studied using computer models or captive animals. They are being studied for the first time. right in his habitat. And the results are pretty clear.

How do seals use their whiskers?

All seals have what is known as movable facial whiskers or vibrissae. This means that, unlike humans, they can move their whisker hairs. But not all of them are equally sensitive. In particular, northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) those who more nerve fibers on the mustache

Therefore, since they also belong to the family phocides, known as true seals, were selected for the study. Some females living in the wild were intercepted and placed cheek cameras to follow them in their hunting maneuvers.

The cameras were equipped infrared led flash, which is invisible to seals, but could help scientists better see what’s going on in the dark. So, they observed that when the seals approached the prey in the darkness of the ocean they stretched their whiskers forward and began to move them rhythmicallyexpanding and retracting.

As soon as the prey was hunted, they stopped making these movements, so it is clear that they did this to find it. The authors of the study believe that this is due to the fact that with their sensitive mustache, are capable of detecting disturbances in water movement that indicate the proximity of another animal. Yes, they can be helped by the bioluminescence of other species, but their whiskers are their main tool for hunting.

Now what?

These researchers know that, in fact, what seals do is not far from the movements of some land mammals They use their whiskers to track the ground.

So his next step would be to compare seals with other mammals endowed with whiskers. In this way, they will be able to better understand the purpose of these appendages, whose power goes far beyond turning seals and other mammals into charming animals.