Seismic signal transmission between burrows of the Cape mole-rat, Georychus capensis

Narins, Peter M.; Reichman, O. J.; Jarvis, Jennifer U. M.; Lewis, Edwin R.

doi:10.1007/bf00190397

Cited by 88 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…blind mole-rat, Rado et al, 1987;Heth et al, 1987; Cape molerat, Bennet and Jarvis, 1988;Narins et al, 1992). Some predators use the seismic waves produced by their prey for directional localization (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the use of reflected self-generated seismic waves for spatial orientation in a blind subterranean mammal

Kimchi

Reshef

Terkel

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Erratum Kimchi, T., Reshef, M. and Terkel, J. (2005). Evidence for the use of reflected self-generated seismic waves for spatial orientation in a blind subterranean mammal. J. Exp. Biol. 208,[647][648][649][650][651][652][653][654][655][656][657][658][659] In the first on-line version of this paper, published on 4 January 2005, an incorrect version of Fig. 5 was published. The error has been rectified and the current on-line version and print versions of the figure are correct.In addition, in the first on-line version of the paper, Fig. 1 was published in black and white instead of in colour. This has also been rectified in the current on-line version and the print version is correct. 647The blind mole-rat is a solitary subterranean rodent that digs and inhabits its own branching tunnel system, which it does not leave unless forced to (e.g. if water floods its tunnels). In nature the mole-rat encounters different types of obstacles that block and disconnect sections of its tunnel. In a recent field study using various open ditches and wood or stone obstacles we found that mole-rats are able to detect the presence of obstacles blocking their tunnel path and burrow a highly efficient detour to accurately rejoin the two disconnected parts of the tunnel. The mole-rats used two different bypass strategies, depending on the size of the ditch encountered: a bypass around short ditches, or a bypass under long (over 300·cm length) ditches (Kimchi and Terkel, 2003a). The physical properties of the encountered obstacles affected the burrowing distance from the obstacle edge: (a) for open ditches, a side bypass 10-20·cm from the obstacle boundaries; or (b) for wood or stone obstacles, a side bypass 3-8·cm from the obstacle boundaries. When the obstacle was placed asymmetrically across the tunnel, the mole-rats always burrowed their bypass around the shorter side, while they showed no preference for a particular side in symmetrically placed ditches (Kimchi and Terkel, 2003b). These findings demonstrated the mole-rat's ability to estimate the size and shape of the obstacle, its own exact position relative to the obstacle boundaries and even the obstacle's density, through the soil medium. Subterranean mammals like the blind mole-rat (Rodentia: Spalax ehrenbergi) are functionally blind and possess poor auditory sensitivity, limited to low-frequency sounds. Nevertheless, the mole-rat demonstrates extremely efficient ability to orient spatially. A previous field study has revealed that the mole-rat can assess the location, size and density of an underground obstacle, and accordingly excavates the most efficient bypass tunnel to detour around the obstacles. In the present study we used a multidisciplinary approach to examine the possibility that the mole-rat estimates the location and physical properties of underground obstacles using reflected self-generated seismic waves (seismic 'echolocation').Our field observations revealed that all the monitored mole-rats produced low-frequency seismic waves (250-300·Hz) at intervals of 8±5...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the use of reflected self-generated seismic waves for spatial orientation in a blind subterranean mammal

Kimchi

Reshef

Terkel

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Determining the class of seismic signals to which an animal is exposed in the field is the subject of future investigations, but it is likely that R-waves are available to the Cape golden mole (C. asiatica), as they are to other sympatric fossorial animals (Narins et al, 1992).…”

Section: Interpreting a Seismic Signalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle ear dynamics in response to seismic stimuli in the Cape golden mole (Chrysochloris asiatica)

Willi

Bronner

Narins

2006

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY The hypertrophied malleus in the middle ear of some golden moles has been assumed to be an adaptation for sensing substrate vibrations by inertial bone conduction, but this has never been conclusively demonstrated. The Cape golden mole (Chrysochloris asiatica) exhibits this anatomical specialization, and the dynamic properties of its middle ear response to vibrations were the subjects of this study. Detailed three-dimensional middle ear anatomy was obtained by x-ray microcomputed tomography (μCT) at a resolution of 12 μm. The ossicular chain exhibits large malleus mass, selective reduction of stiffness and displacement of the center of mass from the suspension points, all favoring low-frequency tuning of the middle ear response. Orientation of the stapes relative to the ossicular chain and the structure of the stapes footplate enable transmission of substrate vibrations arriving from multiple directions to the inner ear. With the long axes of the mallei aligned parallel to the surface, the animal's head was stimulated by a vibration exciter in the vertical and lateral directions over a frequency range from 10 to 600 Hz. The ossicular chain was shown to respond to both vertical and lateral vibrations. Resonant frequencies were found between 71 and 200 Hz and did not differ significantly between the two stimulation directions. Below resonance, the ossicular chain moves in phase with the skull. Near resonance and above, the malleus moves at a significantly larger mean amplitude (5.8±2.8 dB) in response to lateral vs vertical stimuli and is 180° out of phase with the skull in both cases. A concise summary of the propagation characteristics of both seismic body(P-waves) and surface (R-waves) is provided. Potential mechanisms by which the animal might exploit the differential response of the ossicular chain to vertical and lateral excitation are discussed in relation to the properties of surface seismic waves.

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“…As a result, a substantial portion of the resulting acoustic energy is transmitted in the seismic channel rather than in the air (Markl 1983;Narins et al 1992;Randall 1993). Some of these animals have structures specialized for sensing the seismic vibrations; in a few cases, there is evidence that the animals use the seismic channel for intraspeci®c communication (Koyama et al 1982;Pratte and Jeanne 1984;Narins 1990;Heth et al 1991;Baurecht and Barth 1992;Narins et al 1992). Among terrestrial vertebrates, evidence for communication is limited to white-lipped frogs, Leptodactylus albilabris, that thump the ground with their vocal sacs to generate vibrations in the soil (Lewis and Narins 1985;Cortopassi and Lewis 1992) and to two fossorial mole-rat species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among terrestrial vertebrates, evidence for communication is limited to white-lipped frogs, Leptodactylus albilabris, that thump the ground with their vocal sacs to generate vibrations in the soil (Lewis and Narins 1985;Cortopassi and Lewis 1992) and to two fossorial mole-rat species. Spalax ehrenbergi drums its head on the top of the burrow (Heth et al 1987;Rado et al 1987Rado et al , 1989 and Georychus capensis drums its feet on the burrow¯oor (Jarvis and Bennett 1991;Narins et al 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic communication between the burrows of kangaroo rats, Dipodomys spectabilis

Randall

Lewis

1997

Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Sensory, Neural, and Behav

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Banner-tailed kangaroo rats, Dipodomys spectabilis, footdrum to produce substrate-borne and airborne acoustic energy. Previous studies show that they communicate territorial ownership via airborne footdrumming signals. The research reported here used simulated footdrum patterns generated by an arti®cial thumper' to address the question of whether kangaroo rats communicate through seismic components of these acoustic signals. With microphones suspended in sealed burrows, we found that airborne sounds were attenuated by approximately 40 dB as they passed through the burrow wall into the burrow chamber. The substrateborne vibrations from the thumper yielded sound approximately 40 dB greater in peak amplitude than the attenuated airborne sound. Thus, 99.9% of the peak power of the thumper was transmitted directly through the substrate into the burrow. The rats in sealed burrows timed their responses to playbacks of footdrums from the thumper and a loudspeaker so they did not initiate a drumming sequence during either the seismic or airborne signals. When these signals were masked by loud noise, the rats continued to drum to the seismic signal but drummed randomly during the airborne playback. These results suggest that the sealed burrow provides a quiet place in which D. spectabilis can listen for substrate-borne communications from conspeci®cs.

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Seismic signal transmission between burrows of the Cape mole-rat, Georychus capensis

Cited by 88 publications

References 29 publications

Evidence for the use of reflected self-generated seismic waves for spatial orientation in a blind subterranean mammal

Evidence for the use of reflected self-generated seismic waves for spatial orientation in a blind subterranean mammal

Middle ear dynamics in response to seismic stimuli in the Cape golden mole (Chrysochloris asiatica)

Seismic communication between the burrows of kangaroo rats, Dipodomys spectabilis

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