What's more sensitive, your fingertips or a crocodile's jaws? New research suggests the answer is jaws every time.
Both crocodiles and alligators have dome-shaped dots along their jaws.
The function of these black bumps had not been understood until now -
various hypotheses had been made suggesting they detected salinity,
electrical or magnetic fields or just secreted fluid. To test these
ideas,
Duncan Leitch (Vanderbilt
University, Nashville) and his team exposed crocodilians to various
stimuli. They found touch was the only one that elicited a response, and
that using these bumps crocodilians could detect tactile stimuli finer
than we can.
This adaptation helps in both aggressive and
delicate actions. The power of crocodile and alligator bites is well
understood (they have a biting force of 2000 psi, or pounds per square
inch), and these bumps allow them to react to prey with that power
within 50 milliseconds of contact. But crocodilians also carry their
offspring in their mouths, a gentle task and one that requires great
control.
The basic form of crocodilians has not changed much
over evolutionary history and has allowed it to survive mass extinction
events. Adaptations like this help explain why they have been so
successful. The researchers now want to look at what parts of the brain
these nerves stimulate, hoping it will cast some light on how sensory
maps in the forebrain came to be.
Photo source: BBC article.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/
http://www.livescience.com/
http://jeb.biologists.org/
What's more sensitive, your fingertips or a crocodile's jaws? New research suggests the answer is jaws every time.
Both crocodiles and alligators have dome-shaped dots along their jaws. The function of these black bumps had not been understood until now - various hypotheses had been made suggesting they detected salinity, electrical or magnetic fields or just secreted fluid. To test these ideas,
Both crocodiles and alligators have dome-shaped dots along their jaws. The function of these black bumps had not been understood until now - various hypotheses had been made suggesting they detected salinity, electrical or magnetic fields or just secreted fluid. To test these ideas,
Duncan Leitch (Vanderbilt
University, Nashville) and his team exposed crocodilians to various
stimuli. They found touch was the only one that elicited a response, and
that using these bumps crocodilians could detect tactile stimuli finer
than we can.
This adaptation helps in both aggressive and delicate actions. The power of crocodile and alligator bites is well understood (they have a biting force of 2000 psi, or pounds per square inch), and these bumps allow them to react to prey with that power within 50 milliseconds of contact. But crocodilians also carry their offspring in their mouths, a gentle task and one that requires great control.
The basic form of crocodilians has not changed much over evolutionary history and has allowed it to survive mass extinction events. Adaptations like this help explain why they have been so successful. The researchers now want to look at what parts of the brain these nerves stimulate, hoping it will cast some light on how sensory maps in the forebrain came to be.
Photo source: BBC article.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/
http://www.livescience.com/
http://jeb.biologists.org/
This adaptation helps in both aggressive and delicate actions. The power of crocodile and alligator bites is well understood (they have a biting force of 2000 psi, or pounds per square inch), and these bumps allow them to react to prey with that power within 50 milliseconds of contact. But crocodilians also carry their offspring in their mouths, a gentle task and one that requires great control.
The basic form of crocodilians has not changed much over evolutionary history and has allowed it to survive mass extinction events. Adaptations like this help explain why they have been so successful. The researchers now want to look at what parts of the brain these nerves stimulate, hoping it will cast some light on how sensory maps in the forebrain came to be.
Photo source: BBC article.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/
http://www.livescience.com/
http://jeb.biologists.org/
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