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How would you feel if our facial hair led us out of the kitchen whenever we needed a midnight bite?
Although it may seem like a utopia this seems to be the way seal hunting in the dark works, as their ultra-sensitive mustaches point them to the desired prey.
Scientists at the Institute of Polar Studies in Tachikawa, Japan placed small cameras on elephant seal heads to record the movements of their whiskers.
They found that they used whiskers to detect water movements caused by fish in reduced lighting.
The seals were known before to trace their food even in the depths of the ocean where sunlight does not fully reach, but how they managed to do so remained a mystery.
Other mammals, such as whales, use their biosonaries, otherwise known as eco-location tools, to hunt.
In this way they emit sounds, the waves of which collide with nearby objects, enabling the creation of holographic images of their surroundings.
Other mammals use bio-luminescence, which is the creation of light within an organism by means of chemical reactions, which occurs at their prey.
Seals do not have sonar for echolocation or bioluminescence hunting, but they have nevertheless shown hunting skills in unlit areas.
Scientists therefore say they relied on their sensitive mustaches and process vibration and other information from their surroundings.
Seals have the largest number of nerve fibers in their mustache hairs of any mammal.
The researchers observed that seals lengthen or shrink their whiskers constantly as they search for hydro-dynamic signals in the sea, signaling the possible presence of food.
They lengthen their mustaches when they are at depths of more than 200 where their hunting ground is usually.
The study was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
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