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(dynamic music)

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(tiger growling)

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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 origins.

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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 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 aren't just for decoration?

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In fact, the size, shape, and location

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of these animals' sense organs 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,"

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you won't believe what's possible.

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(mysterious music)

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(upbeat music)
(birds calling)

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Welcome to the show that puts you in the eyes and ears,

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the taste buds and nerve endings of wild animals.

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There's a whole world and more than one

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spectrum of sensations that animals are aware of,

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which just pass humans by.

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And yet, while it's widely known that for example,

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a dog's sense of smell is dozens of times

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more acute than humans, or that goats have close to

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a 360 degree field of vision.

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(water rushing)

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There is a kind of sixth sense that some animals have,

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which still defies explanation.

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Call it extra sensory perception.

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Animal abilities we can't entirely explain,

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but which leave us wondering and in awe.

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(wind whooshing)

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For example, take the animal response to disaster,

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such as the tsunami.

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Tragically, the tidal wave killed over 200,000 people,

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but the animal population was comparatively unscathed.

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Observers even recollect animals leaving

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hours before the disaster.

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How did they know?

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Can animals' extra sensory powers predict natural disasters?

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(ominous music)

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Do animals have a kind of extra sensory perception,

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or sixth sense that alerts them to danger?

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(wolf howling)

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Well, the answer is, we still really don't know.

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But it's fascinating to speculate.

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And that's mostly what we'll be doing

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in this episode of "Animal Super Senses."

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Asking questions.

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(grass rustling)

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The tsunami of 2004.

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In the hours before the tsunami hit

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there are reports that in elephant camps

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the large mammals were becoming agitated.

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They trumpeted loudly.

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What may have been elephantine distress calls.

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Many even managed to break free from their camps,

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presumably to head for higher ground.

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Just hours later, disaster.

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(water rushing)
(dynamic music)

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(birds calling)

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In retrospect, it seems entirely possible

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the elephants were responding to low-frequency rumbles

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that are produced when storms approach

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and atmospheric weather changes occur.

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These rumbles happen in a spectrum of sound

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called infrasound, that is below our level of hearing.

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But it is one which elephants use all the time

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to communicate over long distances,

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to listen in for approaching storms, and so on.

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Infrasound can travel vast distances

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through ground, air, and water.

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It can be generated by wind and thunder,

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volcanoes, earthquakes, and huge movements of water.

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Scientists think that elephants feel these vibrations

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through their trunks, or even their feet.

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So the next time you see an elephant

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with its trunk to the ground,

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just think it may not be sniffing the terrain

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but making a trunk call.

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(dynamic music)

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What that means, not just listening out for sound,

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but picking up vibrations through its trunk,

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which has been found contains a pressure sensitive nerve

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capable of detecting seismic signals.

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(plants rustling)

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(thunder rumbling)

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Meanwhile, you might think, wouldn't it be great

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if humans had the ability to use infrasound

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to detect natural phenomenon like hurricanes,

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earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunamis.

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Infrasound, low-frequency sounds, are produced by

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a variety of geophysical processes,

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but also some of the more traumatic man-made sources,

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aircraft and explosions for example.

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In the United States, the National Oceanic

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and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA,

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are currently developing highly sophisticated instruments

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to detect and monitor these kinds of extreme events.

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Naturally, those kinds of instruments all cost

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a small fortune to do what elephants do naturally,

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without even making that big of a deal about it.

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(rain dripping)

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The production and perception of infrasound

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has been observed in multiple mammals,

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including whale, giraffe, hippo, and rhino.

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We can assume that some animals are

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influenced by environmental changes that can occur

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before a natural calamity.

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However, our understanding of such possible

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precursor effects and how organisms react to them

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is still very limited.

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As long as this limitation exists,

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the unusual behavior of animals alone

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can not be used to evaluate an increased risk of earthquake,

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or the arrival of a tsunami.

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(waves crashing)

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But there seem to be other cues which animals tune into

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far beyond the reach of the normal sensory package.

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If it's something in the air, then we're probably

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going to be way, way down on the species list

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before we sense it.

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When it comes to noticing shifts in barometric pressure,

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the sort of changes caused by

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a hurricane at sea for instance,

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it seems birds leave us for dust.

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(water splashing)

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Seagulls in particular, seem to know

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when to seek shelter from the storm.

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They instinctively head inland, away from the coastline,

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prior to the onset of inclement weather.

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It is believed they sense changes in the air pressure

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and know just when it's time to hightail it out of there.

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(funky music)

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Some birds just seem to have an internal barometer

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about these things, literally.

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Migratory birds, for example,

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like these white throated sparrows.

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These fine-feathered fellas breed in Canada and New England.

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But when the winter comes to call,

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they migrate to warmer spots

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in the Southern and Eastern United States.

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(birds chirping)

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Their in-built barometer, for thus it seems to be,

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allows them to detect changes in air pressure.

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Some birds' abilities to detect an approaching storm

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can determine exactly when a large flock

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leaves for a long flight.

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Not only can they select the best departure time,

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but also the best altitude for long-distance travel.

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It's yet another instance where mankind

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has to invent and design all kinds of sensitive

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and expensive equipment just to match

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what comes naturally in the wild.

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(birds calling)

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Some avian species act more like weather forecasters

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than others do.

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When humans lived closer to nature

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several observations were made about birds and the weather.

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Not all of them strictly scientific,

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but seeming to contain more than a seed of truth.

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Birds flying high in the sky are meant to be

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a sign of fine weather approaching.

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If they fly low however, or don't fly at all,

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then it's believed a storm is on its way.

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But then on the one hand,

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some say birds become noisier as bad weather approaches.

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While on the other, there are those who will swear

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birds become abnormally quiet before a storm.

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(gentle music)

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Large groups of birds perching on power lines

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is said to be an indication of stormy weather.

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Another widely held belief is that

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if birds feed during the rain,

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it means the rain will last a long time.

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If they don't come out to feed, then the rain will end soon.

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(waves crashing)

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The sixth sense for barometric pressure

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certainly hasn't been distributed evenly

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through the species.

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We travel now with a certain amount of trepidation

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to the shallow waters, coral reefs, and coastlines,

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that is the natural habitat

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of this sleek and deadly character.

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(water whooshing)

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It is the blacktip shark.

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And it too has a similar uncanny ability to feel things.

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But it is not so much in the air as in the water.

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(dynamic music)

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We all know that tropical storms develop

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as low pressure systems offshore.

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How do sharks respond to the pressure

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of an approaching tropical storm?

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There are some interesting facts that might surprise you.

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In 2001, tropical storm Gabrielle

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made landfall in central Florida.

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Researchers had been tracking the movements

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of a population of juvenile blacktip sharks

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in a small bay there for about three years.

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Blacktip sharks were typically residents

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in this bay for six to eight months during the summer,

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before swimming south for the winter.

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The research corroborated that the blacktips

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typically did not leave the area until migration time.

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And definitely not in large groups.

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As tropical storm Gabrielle approached the coast

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the researchers simply didn't have enough time

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to remove their array of acoustic receivers,

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their listening stations, from the water.

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They simply left them behind and hoped for the best.

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(dramatic music)

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Fortunately, the equipment was still intact after the storm.

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And when researchers downloaded the data

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a little while later, they discovered something amazing.

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Not only had all the blacktip sharks

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they had been tracking left, but as it turned out,

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they had all split the scene

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some seven hours before hurricane Gabrielle hit the coast.

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The almost inescapable conclusion

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was that the sharks responded to the decrease

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in barometric air pressure that proceeds such a big storm

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and made for the open seas.

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(rain splashing)

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(frogs calling)

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When it comes to storm warnings, some of the evidence

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for animal foresight is anecdotal at best,

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and sometimes even a bit murky.

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The most commonly repeated of these tales

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is that of amphibians, namely frogs and toads.

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Who are reputed to croak louder before rainfall.

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Another fascinating case study is the tree frog,

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where it is most commonly kept as a household pet.

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(jaunty music)

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Tree frog pets are most commonly kept in a big glass jar

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with a ladder running up to the lid.

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What the anecdotal evidence seems to suggest

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is that if the tree frog stays at the bottom of the jar

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then rain is eminent.

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If, on the other hand, the little green chap

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climbs up the ladder, then the higher he goes,

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the better the weather will be.

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Meanwhile, back in the wild, green tree frogs

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are sometimes known as rain frogs.

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They are so named because their call is said to be

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the loudest at the onset of stormy weather.

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(wind whooshing)

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(dynamic music)

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To find the most accurate weather forecasters on the planet

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it's possible we need to get down on our knees

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with a magnifying glass and look into the dirt.

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Again, this observable phenomenon still doesn't exactly

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come under the heading of scientific fact.

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But could it be that ants

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are the most reliable weather forecasters on Earth?

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Any definitive conclusions will have to wait

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until all the research is in.

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But keen observers have noted

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that when ants build steep mound sides to their nests

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it seems to be an indication that rains are on their way.

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With the approach of inclement weather,

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ants have been witnessed carrying out

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extra industrious labor, working furiously.

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More furiously than usual to either build

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and move into new nests,

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or fix up and clean their existing nests.

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Maybe it's only spring cleaning, but they also gather food

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as if preparing for a siege,

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the good little soldiers that they are.

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But how do they know without being able to utilize

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some type of extra sensory perception,

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or insects' sixth sense?

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Even the most accurate scientific research

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still doesn't have a good answer for that.

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(gentle music)

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To observe another animal that has faculties

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which could indicate a sixth sense,

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you don't need a magnifying glass,

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or indeed to travel to some exotic corner of the world.

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In fact, you might not need to go

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any further than your own backyard.

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Long known as humans' best friend,

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different breeds of dogs have demonstrated their loyalty

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and courage throughout the centuries.

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(dog panting)

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They can also be trained as canine detectives,

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able to sniff out everything from narcotics to termites,

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concealed explosive devices,

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to people trapped under rubble.

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Smell is a dog's dominant sense, so much so

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that a huge part of its brain is devoted to analyzing odors.

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(water splashing)

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Dogs have two giant olfactory bulbs attached to the brain,

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which decode every smell they encounter.

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The bulbs weigh about four times as much

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as human olfactory bulbs.

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But the source of the dog's exceptional ability

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to smell is its wet snout.

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The moist leathery surface of the snout

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acts like Velcro, catching even

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the tiniest molecules of smells, then dissolving them

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so that the dog's internal smell receptor cells

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can analyze them properly.

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To keep his nose wet,

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a dog must produce a constant supply of mucus

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through its nasal cavities.

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(upbeat music)

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What is possibly less well-known is their seeming

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extra sensory perception as medical detection dogs.

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Medical detection dogs are becoming

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increasingly popular among diabetics.

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Dogs seem to have an uncanny ability

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to alert their diabetic owners

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when their blood sugar levels are too low.

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Although odor clues seem to be

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the most plausible explanation,

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no one is entirely sure

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how these adorable friends can do this.

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(dramatic music)

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The senses are the stars in super senses.

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And this episode has been no exception.

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We have been on a fantastic voyage

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led by the extra sensory perceptions some animals have.

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A few of which really do defy explanation.

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The sixth senses have taken us

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from the ocean depths to the jungle,

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the teaming life underfoot,

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to the migratory patterns of birds on the wing,

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and the incredible sense of smell

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of our inseparable canine friends.

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And these super senses will be back

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to fight again another day.

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

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(dynamic music)