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(soft music)

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(tiger growling)

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(insects rasping)

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(soft music)

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Any one 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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(elephant trumpeting)

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The elephant with its huge ears,

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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 when it's split tongue.

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And what about less obvious enhancements?

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Like the sensory cells on a crocodile skin?

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Surely these evolutionary traits are just for decoration.

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(upbeat music)

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In fact, the size, shape,

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and location of these animals sense organs

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is all for a purpose.

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And just like us animals rely on their senses

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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, to find food.

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When you see 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 of the food chain.

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

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(soft music)

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(bright upbeat music)

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This is "Animal Super Senses",

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the show that grants you the vision and sound,

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the sense and smells,

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tastes and touches of the animal realm.

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Those are the senses we share with most animals.

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But what about those senses that no human is equipped with?

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(soft music)

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(birds singing)

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Some animals seem to have super human senses,

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powers that can detect magnetic fields,

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electrical fields and infrared radiation.

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Yes, there's a whole spectrum of information out there

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that just passes us ordinary humans by.

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We need special technology to register and measure them.

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Whereas some animals

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come with their own biological equipment

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just for that purpose.

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Welcome to the arena of superhuman "Animal Super Senses".

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(wind whistling)

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(birds singing)

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(soft music)

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We begin our journey with some animals

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that are truly magnetic.

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Tiny quantities of magnetite have been found in many animals

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with a superior sense of direction.

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But let's begin with a bit of a flutter

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courtesy of the Monarch butterfly.

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Small, but perfectly formed,

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it is found in various habitats around the world

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as far apart as new Guinea and Bermuda,

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New Zealand and Mexico.

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(birds singing)

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Those found in the Eastern us and Southeast Canada

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spend the summer months there before flying south for winter

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to a single mountainous spot in Central Mexico.

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(soft music)

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(birds singing)

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It's journey that can see them fly up to 5,000 kilometers.

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(upbeat music)

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(birds whistling)

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The second and third generation Monarch butterflies

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return in the spring.

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But how do they know their way home

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or indeed find their way south in the first place?

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(soft music)

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By using their internal compass literally,

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it used to be thought Monarch butterflies

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navigated by the position of the sun.

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But that didn't explain

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how they continued in the right direction

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even on heavily overcast days.

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Not only that, but to adjust for changes in location

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when they are literally blown off course.

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The butterflies must be able to set

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and reset their internal compass

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based on their current location.

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Biologists have found

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Monarch butterflies have magnetic molecules in their brains

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sensitive to the earth's magnetic field.

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So really just like a compass.

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(birds whistling)

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They use these in combination with the sun's position

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to make their epic journeys.

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(birds whistling)

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(wild beasts bellowing)

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Any way you look at it long distance animal migrations

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are one of the great wonders of the natural world.

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(wild beasts bellowing)

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(upbeat music)

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And nowhere more so than the marine environment

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where migratory patterns can reach amazing magnitude.

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(water gargling)

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How these creatures find their way, there and back

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navigating vast distances with such precision

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was for a long time, a mystery.

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(soft music)

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A riddle of sensory and behavioral biology.

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(soft music)

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Sea turtles, like the loggerhead turtle here

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are among the most extraordinary navigators

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of the fathomless deep.

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(soft music)

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(wind blowing)

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(water vibrating)

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(soft music)

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As hatchlings, baby turtles,

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which have never before been in the ocean

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are able to somehow set an unfailing course

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towards the open sea and then maintain their heading

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long after swimming beyond the visible shoreline

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Little baby hatchling loggerhead sea turtles,

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first swim from the Florida Coast

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eastward to the north Atlantic.

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Then gradually over the course of several years

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following complicated migratory paths

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over a huge expanses of seemingly featureless ocean

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then return again to the north American shores.

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Now the most difficult part of open sea navigation

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is determining longitude or Easter or West position.

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(soft music)

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It took human navigators

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centuries of long distance voyages

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to figure out how to do that.

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(soft music)

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But luckily, loggerhead turtles

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pick up on magnetic signals

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in order to determine their position

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both east, west, and north, south.

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As adults they retain these phenomenal navigational skills

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which guide them as they migrate

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between specific feeding areas and nesting beaches.

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(soft music)

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Other long distance migrators

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thought to possess magnetic super power sense

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include both humpback and sperm whales.

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Sperm whales of course are easy to recognize

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due to their enormous heads with prominent foreheads.

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(water gargling)

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They have the largest brain of any creature on earth.

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They dive over 3000 feet in search of food

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and consume about 3% of their body weight per day.

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(soft music)

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When they dive for their dinner

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they can hold their breaths for up to 90 minutes.

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(soft music)

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Female sperm whales and calves

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remain in tropical or subtropical waters

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the whole year round

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and apparently practice communal childcare.

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Males become sexually mature at 18 years,

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at which point they migrate to higher latitudes

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where the water is colder and the pickings are richer.

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Traveling alone or in groups,

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they cruise the oceans at over 30 kilometers per hour.

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Later, they head back towards the equator to breed.

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These journeys would seem to require

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a pretty foolproof internal compass.

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Humpback whales meanwhile

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are found in all the world's oceans.

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In the Southern hemisphere,

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humpback whales will migrate from Antarctica

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to the subtropical coastal waters

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of Western and Eastern Australia and Fiji,

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where they made and give birth during the winter and spring.

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Northern humpback whales on the other hand,

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find their way from Alaska to Hawaii

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swimming in a straight line.

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We're talking journeys

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that are thousands of kilometers long.

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How do they do it?

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One theory is they have a unique guidance system,

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utilizing a combination of solar and magnetic navigation.

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This hypothesis comes in part from mass strandings of whales

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thought to be affected by solar activity

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causing disturbances to the earth's magnetic field.

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And the fact that small quantities of magnetite

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have been found in the brains of humpback whales.

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(upbeat music)

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Another ocean Leviathan, the shark finds its way around

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thanks to the power of electroreception.

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(upbeat music)

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In fact, every type of shark breed

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has electrical sensors in their nose and heads

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named after a 17th century of science

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called Stefano Lorenzini.

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(upbeat music)

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The ampullae of Lorenzini

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are actually special electro receptor organs.

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(upbeat music)

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Though named almost 350 years ago,

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it was only in the 1960s where Dutch scientists

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were able to identify the main function

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of Lorenzini's ampullae, electroreceptivity.

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In the last 15 years, it's been concluded

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that sharks can also perceive temperature deviations

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using the electro sensory system.

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When a fish swims through the water,

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it generates an electric field

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which is detected by the sharks.

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These sensors wouldn't work

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anywhere near as well in the open air,

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but salt water is an excellent conductor of electricity.

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Even a stingray hidden beneath the sand is not safe

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from the sensors of a hammerhead shark.

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So while its name might suggest anything but refinement

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the hammerhead shark as seen here

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does have a very refined sense of electroreception.

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(upbeat music)

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That's thanks to the size

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and shape of their broad flat heads.

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Meaning the ampullae are spread over a greater surface area.

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So sensing out prey is made that much easier.

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(upbeat music)

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And now to an animal that's an exception to the rule

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and just about every other rule.

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The Platypus known to as the duck-billed Platypus

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is a semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal

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found only in Eastern Australia and Tasmania.

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(soft music)

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The first scientist to examine a specimen

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believe they were victims of some elaborate taxidermy hoax.

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Well, the Platypus is definitely a one-off.

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It has a duck bill and web feet,

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a beaver tail and the body shape and fur of an otter.

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(soft music)

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Now platypuses are also venomous

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with sharp stingers on the heels of their rear feet

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that will knock out just about anything with a pulse.

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(soft music)

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These Australian mammals are bottom feeders

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that will hunt under water.

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In spite of their mishmash of physique,

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they make surprisingly graceful swimmers.

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They paddle with their front webbed feet

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and steer with their hind legs and that beaver light tail.

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(water gargling)

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(soft music)

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When they submerge, folds of skin cover their eyes and ears

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and stop water from entering

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and their nostrils are sealed shut.

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(soft music)

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The Platypus can remain underwater

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for a minute or two at a time

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using its sensitive duck bill to find food.

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Shellfish, worms, larvae and insects

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make up the bulk of the Platypus' diet.

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(upbeat music)

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Along with bits of mud and gravel,

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all these consumables are stored in pouches

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in the Platypus' cheeks.

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When they come to the surface

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they match everything up and eat it

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using the bits of gravel to help them chew their food.

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Well after all, it's not like they have teeth.

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But if their eyes and nostrils are closed under water

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then how do they manage to sense potential food

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when it's around?

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The answer can be found on its duct light bill.

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Each and every Platypus bill

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contains around 40,000 electroreceptors arranged in rows.

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The electrical impulses alert the Platypus'

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to objects under water.

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The electrical currents

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travel through water better than air

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and the Platypus' side to side swimming style

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surely helps conductivity too.

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(water gurgling)

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(insects rasping)

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(upbeat music)

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Let's head back to dry land to the forests and woodlands

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of either Papua New Guinea or Australia.

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(upbeat music)

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That's where you'll find this spiky fellow.

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The echidna, a short beak to echidna in this case.

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(upbeat music)

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Sometimes known as spiny anteaters

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the echidna is like the Platypus an egg-laying mammal.

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(upbeat music)

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If you live in Australia,

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you have seen its likeness on the 5 cent coin.

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(upbeat music)

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But unlike the Platypus,

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the spiny anteater spends all of its time on dry land,

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giving you the distinction

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of being the world's only terrestrial egg-laying mammal.

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The echidna is also the only land born mammal

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we know to possess the super sense of electroreception.

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Put simply hundreds of receptors

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concentrated in the tip of the snout

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allow it to pick up on natural electrical stimuli.

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This is particularly useful

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when it comes to hunting for buried prey.

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The short beat a now echidna as seen here

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uses those electoralreceptors

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to pick up on the movements of ants and termites.

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(upbeat music)

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Concealed as they may be to the naked eye,

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but the humidity of their nests

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particularly after the rain is a dead giveaway.

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(upbeat music)

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(soft music)

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And now, from curious egg-laying animals

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to a creature that most of us

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would probably pass by without a second thought

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given the opportunity.

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(upbeat music)

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We speak now of the dung beetle.

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Not the most glamorous of creations,

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this humble insect is actually remarkable in several ways.

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Okay, let's deal with their diet first.

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(upbeat music)

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Just as their name suggests

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dung beetles are beetles that feed exclusively

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or for the main part anyway on done feces.

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(upbeat music)

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Industriously laboring away

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on the lower end of the food chain

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they possess exceptional talent as dung disposal units.

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(upbeat music)

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Wyat single dung beetle

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can bury dung that is 250 times its own body weight

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in the course of it one night.

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(upbeat music)

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Because this critter does a lot more

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than just live up to its name.

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It calls to mind something the writer

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in which Oscar Wilde once said,

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"We are all in the gutter

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but some of us are looking at the stars."

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(soft music)

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Well, as it turns out

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the dung beetle is looking at the stars.

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(soft music)

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Dung beetles have compound eyes

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that are built for low light.

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(soft music)

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While most insects would only be able

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to see a few of the brightest stars in the sky,

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the Milky Ways' distinctive streak of light

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is a useful navigation tool.

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(soft music)

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It has been deduced already

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that dung beetles use polarized moonlight

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to walk backwards in a straight line.

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(soft music)

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But figuring out how they orient themselves

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on moonless nights, has just been discovered.

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(soft music)

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Scientists tested the idea

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that dung beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation.

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(soft music)

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They created special little hats made from black cardboard

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which were taped to the heads of dung beetles.

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The hats block, the beetles view of the night sky

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and confirm the scientist's hunch

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that these insects navigate

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by using the Milky Ways' map of the stars.

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The theory was confirmed in a planetarium

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where a projection of the Milky Way was turned on and off.

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The dung beetle is now in the sensory spotlight.

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The humble poo gatherer

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presents the first use of the Milky Way for orientation

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in the animal kingdom.

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(upbeat music)

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A sunset is a thing of beauty

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but it's more than that for songbirds.

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Recent research in two songbird species

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Swainson's thrushes and great cheek thrushes

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has demonstrated that.

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Scientists are positive,

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these birds could detect earth's magnetic field

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even if they're not quite sure how.

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(upbeat music)

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While it's well-documented

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that animals such as sea turtles

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rely on internal stores of mineral magnetite

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which act like tiny magnetic needles in the animal cells

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how birds do it is still a mystery.

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Receptors in their eyes

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or do they do it with their sense of smell?

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The theory so to speak is still out.

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Whatever the case, even though these birds

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are well-equipped to detect earth's magnetic field,

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they also need to calibrate

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their internal compass from time to time

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on a daily basis in fact.

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(soft music)

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Relying solely on earth's magnetic field

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could have the effect of blowing the songbirds off course

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as the field shifts direction

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in their north American breeding grounds

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enter the sun, which always sets in the west.

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It's nice to know that even for animals

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with superhuman senses,

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sometimes the eternal verities stay true.

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On "Animal Super Senses", the stars are the senses.

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And in this episode, they've taken us

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from the ocean's depths to the skies above.

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From life teeming beneath our feet

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to one of the largest creatures on earth.

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(soft music)

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We have been on a journey of senses,

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superhuman animal senses, but the trip is far from over.

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(soft music)

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These incredible powers of perception

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will live to fight again another day.

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

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(soft music)

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(bright upbeat music)