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(apprehensive music)
(animals chattering)

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Anyone fascinated by the natural world

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has probably wondered why some animals

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have such strange-looking sense organs.

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The elephant with its huge ears,

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(elephant trumpets)

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the antennae of a butterfly,

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which up close look like feathers,

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the snake with its split tongue,

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and what about less obvious enhancements,

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like the sensory cells on a crocodile's skin?

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Surely these evolutionary traits

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aren't just for decoration.
(lively drumming music)

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In fact, the size, shape, and location

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of these animals' sense organs

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is all for a purpose.
(elephant trumpeting)

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And just like us,

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animals rely on their senses
(birds cawing)

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to communicate with each other,

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find their way around, stay safe,

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and most importantly,

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(wolves growling)

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to find food.

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When you see
(gentle music)

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how superior some animal senses are

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compared to those of humans,

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you might wonder how we ever managed

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to stay on top
(bee buzzing)

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of the food chain.

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"Animal Super Senses", you won't believe what's possible.

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(light rhythmic music)

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On this episode of "Animal Super Senses",

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we get in touch with the feelings of wild animals.

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(leopard growling)

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Really in touch.

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Because animals,
(chimpanzee chattering)

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just like humans,

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rely heavily on their sense of touch every day in every way.

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(birds cawing)

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There may be a fine line

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between pleasure and pain,
(chimpanzees howling)

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but not knowing the difference between the two

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can be absolutely fatal.

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The sense of touch does more than tell us

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about that ant
(mosquito buzzing)

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by biting into our skin,

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or helps a grizzly bear to keep hold of a slippery salmon

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when he is hungry.

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Touch alerts animals to pressure,

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heat, cold, wind,

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and yes, pain.

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(animal howling)

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(animal chattering)

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(elephant trumpeting)

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Helping them to catch food,

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manipulate objects in their paws,

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but also to navigate and communicate.

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(birds squawking)

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(birds chirping)

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Touch receptors, which include body hair,

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inform the brain

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about tactile sensations.
(elephants trumpeting)

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These receptors fall into two main categories:

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mechanicoreceptors, which detect movement,

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and thermoreceptors,
(light tense music)

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which respond to temperature.

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(birds chirping)
(light rhythmic music)

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(birds chirping)

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On the vast plains of the African Savannah,

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there is an animal not famed for its sensitivity

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when perhaps it should be.

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After all, we are talking
(elephants trumpeting)

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about the largest living land mammal,

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one that eats a minimum of 200 pounds per day

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and whose skin is their own body armor.

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But don't be fooled by their size,

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their seemingly thick skin, or prodigious appetites.

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African elephants and their Indian relatives

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are remarkably sensitive creatures.

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For one thing, they are highly intelligent animals,

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which display complex social behaviors, such as courtship,

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communal care, vocal communication, and play.

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But they are also sensitive in the most literal

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and most scientific use of the word.

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(light electronic music)

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To begin with, that thick skin,

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up to one and a half inches thick,

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is in fact highly tuned to the slightest touch.

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And no part of the elephant's body is more tactile

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than its trunk.

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(elephant trumpeting)

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Used primarily to locate and manipulate food,

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elephants are herbivores and an elephant's trunk

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is in constant use.

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(tense electronic music)

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They are remarkable for their strength

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as well as sensitivity,

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able to pick up objects in excess of 500 pounds in weight.

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(dynamic electronic music)

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But their trunks are also so responsive to touch

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that they are capable of perceiving pressure differences

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as low as 0.01 inch in depth.
(bird squawking)

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(elephants screeching and trumpeting)

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The small sensory hairs on the tip of the trunk

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are in part responsible for this sensitivity.

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Called Pacinian corpuscles,

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these cells pick up on the tiniest vibrations.

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(tense electronic music)

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It's interesting to note that Pacinian corpuscles

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show up elsewhere in nature,

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on human fingertips, for example.

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On the elephant's trunk,

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they are constantly in use as the trunk plays a part

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not just in forging for food, but in that rich social life.

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The trunk can be used to caress,

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nudge, or nudge other members of the herd

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not least during mating season.

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(birds cawing)

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(birds chirping)

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(lighthearted music)

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(birds cawing and chirping)

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Well, as the old saying goes

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you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

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Mutual grooming is an important and practical way

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for social animals

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not only to look after one another, but also to form bonds.

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(animals chattering)

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There can be few bonds in the wild

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stronger than a mother kangaroo and her baby joey.

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While still the tiniest infant,

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it climbs from its mother's abdomen

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to her pouch and stays there for over six months.

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Kangaroos then are used to intimacy

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from the get-go.

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Fun fact, a group of kangaroos

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is called a mob.

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To be accepted into the mob,

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an outsider will be subject to a sniffing

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but also a rubbing of noses.

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(animals chattering)

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(tense music)

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(tense music)

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Mutual grooming and touching may then proceed uninhibited.

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But rub a kangaroo the wrong way,

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and it could come to blows.

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Ritualized fighting, or as it looks to us, boxing,

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is a part of this marsupial's tactile toolkit.

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(upbeat rhythmic electronic music)

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It's that moment when a kanga's sense of touch

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becomes a sense of ouch.

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(dynamic music)

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(animals rumbling)

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(animals chattering)
(light upbeat music)

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(animals mooing)

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Tens of thousands of miles away

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from the Australian Outback

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on the Serengeti National Park,

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another very distinctive mammal uses touch

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to strengthen bonds between family and herd.

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Zebras live in herds as many as 1000 strong

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but their first loyalty is always to the family group

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which will generally number between five and 20 animals.

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They will maintain these bonds over many years.

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The bonds are strong.

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For example, if an individual gets lost

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or has to slow down due to age or injury,

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the rest of the zebras will go on the lookout

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for their lost companion

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or adjust their traveling pace in response.

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Something that strengthens those bonds are mutual groomings

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where zebras line up alongside each other,

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neck and neck and cheek to cheek as it were,

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and nibble the hair on each other's neck and back.

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That actually looks like fun.

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(animals chattering)

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(birds chirping)

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(gentle music)

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The sensory hairs on the skins of mammals

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plays a big part in their sense of touch.

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But if we shrink things down, the very same thing

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applies to arachnids, spiders, for example.

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(birds chirping)

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This small but serious-looking customer

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is a trapdoor spider.

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It's able to detect vibrations and movement

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through the tiny sensory hairs on its body.

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(radar pulsing)

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Trapdoor spiders, just as their name suggests,

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are ambush predators,

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meaning they lie in wait.

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Just biding their time

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until their spidey sense feels a vibration

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and then they pounce

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and then it is all over.

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(dramatic music)

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(gentle electronic music)

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The orb weaver spider goes about snaring their prey

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in a slightly different manner

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but they too rely on their sense of touch

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to get it right.

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With their notably poor eyesight, they must.

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(lively electronic music)

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The webs they so cleverly weave

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are not there only to ensnare their prey,

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although they do that very effectively too.

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The orb weaver spider's web

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also extends their range of feeling

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or sense of touch.

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But perhaps the strangest application

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of the super spidey sense of touch...

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Sorry, how could we resist?

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Isn't about luring and trapping prey

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so much as about practicing safe sex.

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As in the case with many arachnids,

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the funnel web spider male spider is considerably smaller

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than its female counterpart.

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When the male wants to mate with a female,

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he encounters a minefield

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of potentially hazardous obstacles to success.

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For one thing, the female, if caught by surprise,

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will often simply eat her hapless suitor

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and so much for romance.

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If however, the male approaches her less aggressively

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and in effect, strokes her shell with his legs

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giving her what we might think of in anthropomorphic terms

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as a back massage, then the female is less likely

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to kill and eat him on approach.

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And in fact, the male may be lucky

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and survive several bouts of spider intercourse

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before she finally decides

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not only is she through with him

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but she's hungry.

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(tense music)

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(bird cawing)

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(dynamic music)

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(tense music)

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The sting is in the tail when it comes to scorpions.

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If you ever feel their touch,

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it may be the last thing you feel.

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The desert crawlers we see here

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are known as large hairy desert scorpions.

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These scorpions still come with the same elongated body,

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the same segmented tail, and yes, the same venomous stinger

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at the end of that tail.

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They have, count 'em,

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four pairs of legs

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and a pair of appendages called pedipalps

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which look a lot like claws.

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These work like pincers,

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excellent for grasping hold of prey

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and for defense.

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Not only are they standard equipment for insect aliens

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in every science fiction movie you've ever seen,

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they're also highly intricate pieces of equipment.

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Fine sensory hairs pick up on wind-borne vibrations.

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(tense music)

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Tiny organs on the tips of their legs can detect vibrations

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in the ground.

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And on its soft underbelly,

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the scorpion rounds out their armory of touch sensors

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with these comb-like sense organs known as pectines.

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The teeth of his comb detect and evaluate

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the texture and vibrations of different surfaces.

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Hair sensors come in all sizes

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from a microscopic to the outsized.

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(light lively music)

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(birds cawing and chirping)

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(dynamic drumming music)

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(bird cawing)

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(lively drumming music)

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(bird cawing)

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(lively drumming music)

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(bird cawing)

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Whiskers, such as the ones you see on this cheetah

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out on the prowl of the east African grasslands,

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are an example of hair sensors

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you can definitely see for yourself.

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(zebras whinnying)

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(dynamic music)

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Whiskers, more correctly known as vibrissae,

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supply their owners with vital sensory information

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about their environment.

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The follicle of each and every whisker

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is connected to thousands of nerve receptors.

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Meaning the animal can feel its way through its surroundings

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by picking up on tiny vibrations

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in the air or water.

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No doubt this comes in handy for the cheetah

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but this cat does its hunting during the day.

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(birds chirping)

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(insects chirping)
(light rhythmic music)

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Where whiskers really come into their own

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as an alternative sensing device

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is when day turns to night

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and nocturnal predators must move

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with stealth and accuracy.

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(leopard growling)

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There's no better example of a feline with wicked whiskers

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than the leopard,

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perhaps the most elegant night prowler of them all.

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A leopard will typically have as many as 30 whiskers

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on either side of its face,

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meaning some 30,000 nerve receptors.

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(tense rattling music)

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They're acutely sensitive, enough to sense vibrations

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in the changing air currents,

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and in comparison with their size,

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the leopard's whiskers are the widest

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of all the felines,

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wider in fact, than their bodies.

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Sad to say, in Asia, leopard whiskers are prized

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for the wrong reasons.

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Used in dubious medicines, they are another reason

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that poachers hunt this magnificent creature.

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(waves rustling)

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(birds chirping and squawking)

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(eerie music)

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Half a world and oceans away from such trouble,

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the Australian sea lion is renowned

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for its whiskery good looks.

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(suspenseful music)

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In fact, there's even a university-sponsored website

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dedicated to studying the habits

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of Western Australian sea lions

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called Whisker Patrol.

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(gentle suspenseful music)

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But their facial hair isn't for decoration

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nor does it have as much a part to play

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when the Aussie sea lion wanders onto dry land.

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No, their whiskers really come into their own

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when the Australian sea lion goes underwater,

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close to the sea floor.

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(majestic music)

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To hunt for squid, fish, octopus,

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rock lobsters, and even small sharks,

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the Aussie sea lion will typically seek out

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this kind of prey by closing their eyes

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and feeling around using their whiskers.

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The sea lion's whiskers are in fact

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a highly sensitive hydrodynamic receptor system.

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In slightly simpler terms,

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that means they could detect the tiny vibrations

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that are created when fish and other tasty morsels

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move through the water.

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(gentle eerie music)

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One of the creatures the sea lion hunts for is,

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as mentioned, the octopus.

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But octopi are outfitted with their own super sense of touch

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helping them to elude capture

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and to track down prey of their own.

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As it has been captured in popular imagination

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over the past few years,

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the octopus is a highly intelligent animal.

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It is the only invertebrate that is thought to use tools,

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for example, gathering shells and using them as body armor.

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Octopuses have even been known to break out

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of their aquariums and get into others

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in the hunt for a good meal.

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There are even cases

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where octopi have clamored aboard fishing boats

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and opened up the hold to get at the crabs within.

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But how do they do all that?

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Well, their unusually high intelligence

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doesn't hinder them,

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but they go a long way

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by utilizing their super sense of touch.

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The blue ringed octopus depicted here

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is commonly found in tide pools and coral reefs

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of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

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As with all of their kind,

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they have two eyes and four pairs of arms.

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Now, on each arm, there are two rows

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of off-white colored suckers

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that can be moved independently.

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There are thousands of these little suckers

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on an octopus's body

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and every one of those suckers may contain

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up to 10,000 neurons that detect the slightest touch

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as well as taste.

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What you most certainly don't want to do

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is to come into close contact with a blue ringed octopus.

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The venom it unleashes when it seizes its prey

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is said to be over 1000 times

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more lethal than cyanide.
(tense music)

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(lively music)

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On "Animal Super Senses",

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we touch it and feel it, see it and hear it,

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taste it and smell it like animals do.

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The senses are the star on this show

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and this episode has been no exception.

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The sense of touch has put us in contact

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with all kinds of heightened sensations,

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but these incredible powers

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of perception will fight again another day.

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So join us next time on "Animal Super Senses".

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(dynamic music)