darlene ketten – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Seeing in the Dark

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2013Natureaquatic habitat, aran mooney, baiji river dolphin, China, chinese academy, chinese radiologist, computed tomography, ct scans, darlene ketten, dolphin, hydrobiology in wuhan, marine mammal, noisy environment, porpoise, representative species, sciences, seeing in dark, three gorges dam, toothed whales, whoi, yangtze finless porpoise

New research sheds light on how porpoises hear in one of the world’s busiest rivers

The Yangtze finless porpoise, which inhabits the high-traffic waters near the Three Gorges Dam in China, is highly endangered, with only about 1,000 animals alive today. Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their Chinese colleagues are using medical technology to shed new light on this species’ critical sense of hearing in a waterway punctuated by constant shipping, dredging, and underwater construction.

“We want to understand how they may be impacted by noise,” said Aran Mooney, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and a lead author on the study published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Biology. (more…)

Study Amplifies Understanding of Hearing in Baleen Whales

For decades, scientists have known that dolphins and other toothed whales have specialized fats associated with their jaws, which efficiently convey sound waves from the ocean to their ears. But until now, the hearing systems of their toothless grazing cousins, baleen whales, remained a mystery.

Unlike toothed whales, baleen whales do not have enlarged canals in their jaws where specialized fats sit. While toothed whales use echolocation to find prey, baleen whales generally graze on zooplankton, and so some scientists have speculated that baleen whales may not need such a sophisticated auditory system. But a new study by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), published April 10, 2012, in The Anatomical Record, has shown that some baleen whales also have fats leading to their ears. (more…)

Tag Archives: darlene ketten

Seeing in the Dark

Study Amplifies Understanding of Hearing in Baleen Whales