Unlike any other mammal on this planet, platypuses have the ability to perceive underwater prey using a technique known as electroreception. Electroreception allows platypuses to use electrical impulses to locate objects in the deepest and darkest of waters. Platypuses are gifted with an extraordinary bill, packed with thousands of mechanoreceptors and electroreceptors that can detect movements and subtle electric fields produced by its prey. Using a side-to-side motion of its head, the platypus can pinpoint the exact location of its next meal by collecting, and combining, these flows of sensory information.
Which of these animals is known for its ability to detect electricity?
- Cat
- Platypus
- Manatee
- Tasmanian devil
The correct Answer is Platypus
Both the echidna and the platypus have tiny electroreceptors on their snouts (up to 40,000 in the case of a platypus), which detect currents and allow them to burrow through silt or dry land and locate prey with their eyes closed. The echidna’s electrical capabilities are all the more remarkable for being on land.
Which of these animals is known for its ability to detect electricity?
“All organisms are electric,” Kajiura says. “They have this electric field, this aura around their body, whether you are a shrimp or a fish or a crab or whatever.”
For example, a fish breathes in and out about twice every second, generating a current of around 2 hertz.
Unlike any other mammal on this planet, platypuses have the ability to perceive underwater prey using a technique known as electroreception. Electroreception allows platypuses to use electrical impulses to locate objects in the deepest and darkest of waters. Platypuses are gifted with an extraordinary bill, packed with thousands of mechanoreceptors and electroreceptors that can detect movements and subtle electric fields produced by its prey. Using a side-to-side motion of its head, the platypus can pinpoint the exact location of its next meal by collecting, and combining, these flows of sensory information.