title: Somatosensation, echolocation, and underwater sniffing: adaptations allow mammals without traditional olfactory capabilities to forage for food underwater.
abstract: Animals rely mainly on olfaction to locate and track food sources. However, mammals that have evolved to live partially or fully underwater are unable to use traditional olfaction in the foraging process. These animals have subsequently developed alternative underwater foraging techniques. Cetaceans (e.g. dolphins) live exclusively underwater, and most utilize a highly developed sonar system for navigation and tracking of prey. Pinnipeds (e.g. seals) live on land, but forage underwater. These animals' highly sensitive whiskers allow them to locate food sources. Sirenians (e.g. manatees), the only herbivorous aquatic mammals, also use highly developed whiskers during the grazing process. The semiaquatic mammals Condylura cristata (star-nosed mole) and Sortex palustris (water shrew) have developed the ability to sniff and detect semiochemicals underwater, a discovery that contradicts prior views on the evolutionary relationship between olfaction and aquatic adaptation. The current review details the anatomy of the olfactory systems of these mammals that live and/or forage underwater, and the adaptations they use to follow prey and forage underwater.
authors: Neuroscience Program, Skidmore College, 815 N Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866, USA.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Marriott
authors: Emily
authors: E
authors: Cowan
authors: Jacob
authors: J
authors: Cohen
authors: Robert M
authors: RM
authors: Hallock
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D004455:Echolocation; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008322:Mammals / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*