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Functions may variously include sensing touch, air motion, heat, vibration (sound), and especially smell or taste. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Antennae are sometimes modified for other purposes, such as mating, brooding, swimming, and even anchoring the arthropod to a substrate . [ 2 ]
The sense is mainly used for orientation and navigation, but it may help some animals to form regional maps. Experiments on migratory birds provide evidence that they make use of a cryptochrome protein in the eye, relying on the quantum radical pair mechanism to perceive magnetic fields.
The vibrations of the larynx emits a sound, which resonates on the elastic membrane of the vocal sac. [1] The resonance causes the sound to be amplified and allows the call to carry further. Muscles within the body wall force the air back and forth between the lungs and vocal sac.
Although they have ears, many fish may not hear very well. Most fish have sensitive receptors that form the lateral line system, which detects gentle currents and vibrations, and senses the motion of nearby fish and prey. [1] Sharks can sense frequencies in the range of 25 to 50 Hz through their lateral line. [2]
Electroreceptive animals use the sense to locate objects around them. This is important in ecological niches where the animal cannot depend on vision: for example in caves, in murky water, and at night. Electrolocation can be passive, sensing electric fields such as those generated by the muscle movements of buried prey, or active, the ...
In contrast, the other sense, touch, is a somatic sense which does not have a specialized organ but comes from all over the body, most noticeably the skin but also the internal organs . Touch includes mechanoreception (pressure, vibration and proprioception ), pain ( nociception ) and heat ( thermoception ), and such information is carried in ...
Seismic or vibrational communication is a process of conveying information through mechanical vibrations of the substrate. The substrate may be the earth, a plant stem or leaf, the surface of a body of water, a spider's web, a honeycomb, or any of the myriad types of soil substrates.
Swallowing unusually large objects or placing objects in the back of the mouth may cause the pharyngeal reflex. Some people, for instance sword swallowers , have learned how to suppress it. [ 1 ] In contrast, triggering the reflex is sometimes done intentionally to induce vomiting, by those who have bulimia nervosa .