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(dramatic music)

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(tiger growling)

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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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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, you won't believe what's possible.

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(dramatic music)

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Hello, and welcome to another installment

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of Animal Super Senses.

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The show where animal instincts

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and perception are the stars.

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In this episode, we examine how every animal

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has what could be called the sense of rhythm,

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the human animal included.

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To give an obvious example,

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there's our internal body clock

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that responds to circadian rhythm.

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That's the 24 hour day and night cycle.

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Circadian rhythms are synchronized

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with what is known as photoperiod.

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In simple terms, the length of a day.

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Changes in the amount of available light

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are detected by mammals in a tiny area

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of the brain called the SCN.

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It's like a master clock,

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which responds to the environmental cycle.

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Some animals of course are diurnal,

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mostly active during the day, while others are nocturnal.

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they sleep through the day

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and are busiest after the sun goes down.

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But, there are other rhythms with a longer cycle,

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often in tune and affected by the seasons.

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For example, biologists recently identified

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a photoreceptor cell deep inside the brains of birds,

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which responds to daylight and nightlight,

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but also regulates breeding activity

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according to seasonal changes.

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Animals synchronize their body clocks

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for biological purposes, such as reproduction,

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hibernation,

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fur color changes and migration.

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But exactly what senses are at work

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to help animals keep in tune

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with the rhythms of day and night and the changing seasons?

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The answers coming up in this episode may just surprise you.

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Did you know that all vertebrate animals,

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which, of course, includes human beings,

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have a special organ, the pineal gland.

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Also known as the third eye,

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which detects daily changes in the amount of light.

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(tribal singing)

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In human beings, the pineal gland is located

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in the center of the brain.

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But in birds, reptiles, and fish,

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it is located on the forehead, just underneath the skin.

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For workaday diurnal animals,

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the light sensitive pineal gland releases more melatonin

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during the night than by day.

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This helps animals set their body clocks,

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letting them know when to be active

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and when to go to sleep.

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As mentioned, humans have a pineal gland

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and this so-called third eye,

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has long been attributed

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with mystical powers since ancient times.

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Whatever it's spiritual properties,

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the pineal gland seems to help animals adhere

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to a 24 hour rhythm

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and regulate their sleeping and waking cycles.

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Some lizards, frogs, lampreys, and species of fish

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literally do have a third eye, known as the parietal eye.

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The tuatara is a reptilian survivor of the dinosaur age

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and is found only in New Zealand.

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In mammals the pineal gland

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is buried deeper inside the forehead

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meaning that it can not receive light directly.

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So how does it sense changes between day and night?

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Recent research has found

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that the pineal gland is directly linked

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to the retina in eyes.

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In diurnal mammals, and again, it includes us,

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the melatonin hormone makes us sleepy.

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(peaceful music)

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Scientists have recently shown that in nocturnal animals

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the pineal gland still secretes melatonin

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even during darkness,

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during the period when night creatures

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become the most active.

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So clearly melatonin is not the universal sleeping pill.

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In some species, it may have the opposite effect.

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Incidentally, do you know how much sleep

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the average adult requires?

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That's right, only five more minutes.

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Excuse the levity.

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Of course, the whole cycle of life

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is in so many ways, dependent on timing.

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The changing seasons has an impact

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on reproductive cycles in many species.

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Animals like these Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep

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found in high places from British Columbia to Arizona,

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live their entire lives

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in sync with the changing of the seasons.

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Changes in temperature and the lengthening

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or shortening of days,

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these are keenly felt at high altitudes.

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The timing of the mating season

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becomes vitally important in harsh climates.

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Meeting occurs at a particular time

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so that the young may be born when the weather is

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at its mildest and resources are most abundant.

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Staying in Arizona, where these pronghorn antelope

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are most definitely seasonal breeders.

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Mating season begins

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with a head-butting contest between males.

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as they compete for mating rights

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and access to females.

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Bucks separate from others in August

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and begin hanging around with the does.

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Male pronghorns grunt and snort pushing

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and fighting the other bucks

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to gain the attention of females.

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They rub their antlers on trees

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and bushes marking areas with their scent.

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It's an impressive display,

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but it won't be totally unfamiliar

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to anyone who watches so-called,

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reality television dating shows.

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This sense of timing is found

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throughout the animal realm

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in such phenomenon as hibernation.

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Fur color changes, or migration.

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We'll take a look at all

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of these in due course, but first up, let's see

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if we can both get our lips and your heads around a state

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of suspended development called embryonic diapause.

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It's just what it sounds like.

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Embryonic diapause that is.

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The embryo takes a pause,

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meaning the embryo does not immediately implant

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in the uterus,

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but is maintained the state of dormancy.

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By far the most famous case

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of this state of arrested development

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takes place in the Outbacks of Australia.

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This is a reproductive strategy

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so kangaroo moms can time the birth of their young

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in order to avoid going into labor

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during unfavorable environmental conditions,

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such as droughts.

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When the time is right, the embryo is reactivated.

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The little joey kangaroo is born and then crawls

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into its mother's pouch.

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This phenomenon occurs in a number of marsupial species

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but is especially prevalent among kangaroos and wallabies.

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This is also known as delayed implantation.

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It's something common to rodents,

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bears, weasels and badgers too.

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The arrested development of a joey

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almost pales in comparison,

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with how some animals are able to shut down everything

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but vital signs

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during that state of suspended animation,

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we know as hibernation.

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(water gushing)

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And the world's super-hibernator is undoubtedly

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this fearsome looking predator, the black bear.

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(mischievous music)

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Also known as the American black bear,

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though they can be found in large numbers

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across the border in Canada as well.

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American or Canadian, it doesn't matter.

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In any case, the black bear hibernates five to seven months

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of the year during which time it does not eat,

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drink, urinate or defecate.

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During this period,

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they completely throw all their other circadian rhythms

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out the window.

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As they move from summer to autumn,

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black bears and indeed bears in general

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begin feeding even more than usual.

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Males and females will gorge themselves

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on an average of 30,000 calories a day.

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We don't advise that you try this at home.

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This conspicuous consumption is all for a reason.

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It creates a layer of fat,

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which will act as insulation

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and kind of a metabolic reservoir

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for their time in super-hibernation.

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Now chipmunks are, of course hibernators too,

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so let's compare what they get up to

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with the habits of the black bear.

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When the chipmunk goes into a deep sleep,

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its body temperature can drop

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by more than 6.6 degrees Celsius.

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The upshot, is that the chipmunk must wake up

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every few days and feed like nobody's business.

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(upbeat music)

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The metabolism of a black bear on the other paw,

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will slow to where they are taking just one

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or two breaths per minute,

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and their hearts beat eight to 12 times per minute.

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(bear growling)

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But this is not a competition.

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And there's no doubt

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that many small mammals, such as chipmunks

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but also woodchucks and ground squirrels

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are some world-class hibernators.

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The hibernation habits

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of the Arctic ground squirrels are surely worthy of note.

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A year round resident of the Arctic tundra,

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this ground squirrel has a hybrid issue period

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of up to seven to eight months.

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During its deep sleep,

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the Arctic ground squirrel's core body temperature drops

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just below freezing.

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Once every two to three weeks or so,

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it shivers and shakes without waking

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for more than a dozen hours at a time to reheat its body.

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Another way in which animals have the sense

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to register changes in seasons,

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is by changing into their winter wardrobes.

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The Arctic fox is a classic case in point.

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Life could be difficult

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for this elegant looking little creature,

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but the Arctic fox makes the best of its lot.

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Preying on whatever creatures it can find for survival,

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including lemons and voles,

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and perhaps to make life on the Tundra a little less

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solitary of a journey,

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the Arctic fox is a monogamous creature and mates for life.

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They're also relatively involved parents with mother

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and father helping to raise the average

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of five to eight cubs.

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Be that as it may,

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let's get back to the Arctic fox's fashion sense.

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During the short Arctic summer, it's fur is a brown color.

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As winter sets in,

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the fur thickens and turns white.

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Thicker for obvious reasons,

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white so that the creature's camouflage matches the season,

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and that of course means white as snow.

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Animals body clocks can last longer than a day or a season

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or even a whole year.

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To illustrate, we leave the frozen Tundra

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of the Arctic behind and travel to the deciduous forests

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of the Eastern United States.

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The principal habitat of the periodical cicadas,

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also known as Magicicadas.

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Cicadas spend a lot of time underground.

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In fact, the vast majority of their lives.

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(soft piano music)

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For a period of either 13 or 17 years,

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both prime numbers you will note,

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cicadas stay under foot feeding on the roots

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of deciduous trees and yet slowly,

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ever so slowly over this time, they develop and mature.

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Then finally, for a bit of few glorious weeks

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when the almost adult cicadas

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are at the so-called nymph stage,

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they emerge from the ground in large numbers.

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They shed their skins one last time

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and after a few days their exoskeletons harden completely.

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(tinkling music)

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Then they take to the skies,

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singing the familiar cicada mating call to find a mate.

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The question is, after every 13 or 17 years,

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how do they know when to come out in such precise intervals?

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Recent research thinks they may be keeping track

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of the sap cycles in trees,

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but still no one knows for sure.

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One thing we haven't really touched on in our examination

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of animal timing is the effect of the moon on animals,

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for the lunar cycle, governs the timing of natural events

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as much as the sun.

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(dramatic music)

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A long way from cicadas,

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at the edge of the ocean in this case,

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the coral reefs around the gold coast of Australia.

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We can see clearly how life is affected

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by the lunar cycle, especially in underwater life.

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For just one week of every year in spring,

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after a full moon, millions of corals will release

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their eggs and sperm in a symphony of reproductive activity.

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(soft piano music)

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This spectacular example of group sex,

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which is what it is if you think about it,

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has long been a source of fascination.

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But up until less than a decade ago,

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it was a mystery how these seemingly primitive beings,

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which somehow get through life without brains or eyes,

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synchronize their annual mass spawning.

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But in 2007, scientists were able to isolate an ancient gene

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in the corals, which is capable of detecting moonlight.

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(intense music)

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On Animals Super Senses,

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every episode serves to demonstrate that

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while we like to think of ourselves

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at the top of the food chain,

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when we look at our senses,

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compared to the phenomenal abilities of other animals

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we are just fumbling in the dark with earmuffs on.

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See you next time on, Animals Super Senses.

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(intriguing music)