Dolphins’ Electric Sense

Bottlenose dolphins. Schnapps2012/iStock.

Even buried in the ocean floor, fish may not stand a chance against a hungry bottlenose dolphin. Dolphins have keen vision, an exceptional sense of hearing—and they can sense electric fields emitted by their prey, according to new research.

Researchers at Nuremberg Zoo and University of Rostock, Germany teamed up to find out just how sensitive these marine mammals are to electric fields. The results may explain how dolphins detect hidden fish at close range and even provide clues as to why the animals sometimes strand themselves on beaches.

Read the whole story at my Animal Minds blog: Bottlenose Dolphins Sense Electricity.