Electroreception is the ability of animals to sense electrical fields and environmental signals. This mechanism is necessary for mining, communication and orientation in space for sensing the Earth’s magnetic field. Electricity-sensing ability has been found in fish, including sharks, tailed amphibians, and Australian platypuses, and is also suspected in echidnas. Previous studies have shownGuyanese dolphins use electronic sensing (sotalia quianensis) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

In a new study, zoologists from the University of Rostock (Germany) determined sensitivity thresholds for detecting electric fields in bottlenose dolphins. To do this, scientists conducted an experiment in which they taught two animals (Dolly and Donna from the Nuremberg Zoo) to respond to electric fields using a specially constructed setup.

In a new study, zoologists from the University of Rostock (Germany) determined sensitivity thresholds for detecting electric fields in bottlenose dolphins. To do this, scientists conducted an experiment in which they taught two animals (Dolly and Donna from the Nuremberg Zoo) to respond to electric fields using a specially constructed setup.

For an alternating current field, these values ​​varied only on the order of 11-29 microvolts per centimeter. Thus, scientists concluded that bottlenose dolphins can detect very weak fields. Detection thresholds for AC fields in animals were generally higher than for DC fields, and sensitivity to AC fields decreased as frequency increased.

This means that the threshold for detecting electric fields in bottlenose dolphins is at the level of platypuses, sharks and Guiana dolphins. Therefore, dolphins can sense the Earth’s magnetic field while moving fairly quickly through the water column, and can also search for prey using electrosensing in the surface layers of seabed sediments, where their echolocators do not work well.

“The ability to detect even very weak electric fields allows dolphins to search for fish hidden at the bottom of the sea, under a layer of sediment. In addition, the presence of a similar ability in marine mammals explains why toothed whales move through the Earth’s magnetic field during their migration.” said Professor Guido Deinhardt from the University of Rostock.