Category Archives: What’s New in Sensory Ecology?

White-throated Sparrow Song Overcomes All Obstacles

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  Any animal that relies heavily on vocal communication must adjust this behavior in the face of conflicting environmental sounds, such as wind, rain, cars, or even songs of other species.  Like other animals, birds heavily rely on this communication … Continue reading

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To Boldy Go Where Other Bees Have Gone Before

Prey animals are capable of assessing their surrounding environment for any potential threats to their safety. Many can form associations between an environmental event and their own response to the event. Other members of the same species have “the capacity to glean information … Continue reading

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Choosing food based on its smell: The importance of olfaction in the foraging behavior of the short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx

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The short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx) is a fruit-eating (frugivorous) bat that is native to south China. Like other frugivorous vertebrates, the short-nosed fruit bat faces the difficulties associated with selecting fruits and assessing their quality, which largely impacts the … Continue reading

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Social Communication: Did I Say You Could Touch That?

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People have always been amazed at the ability of bats to hunt and catch prey in complete darkness. Bats are able to navigate complex environments with precision and capture prey with superior accuracy. These feats are possible through a process … Continue reading

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Cryptic camouflage: Effects on environmental visual complexity on background matching

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Many animals use protective coloration as a means of avoiding predation. For many species, e.g cuttlefish and flatfish, this protective coloration takes the form of crypsis, a mechanism by which an organism use body color and patterns to match their … Continue reading

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Visibility or security? A trade-off faced by tree-cavity nesting Collared Flycatchers

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For birds that live in the forest, keeping a nest safe is one of the biggest challenges. Luckily, forests have trees and trees come with an abundance of tree cavities that offer some of the safest nesting sites. However, according … Continue reading

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All hail the queen: how queen signaling maintains social hierarchies in wasps

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As my college graduation approaches, I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic about those high school days, back when I knew exactly what I wanted to do and where I would be in a year. But then I remember … Continue reading

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Elephants: Giants and Geniuses

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Can you imagine hearing the “MOO” of a cow from Barn A, and understanding how it sounds different from that of a cow in Barn B? How close would you have to be to understand these differences? How long would … Continue reading

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I got it from my mama: maternal investment and warning signal honesty in aposematic ladybugs

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Parents are protective of their offspring. They will personally defend you against anyone who tries to hurt you, and they will hold your hand as you cross the street. Some parents will even call you five times a day to … Continue reading

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Extracellular vesicles: A radical new form of animal communication

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Sensory systems are importance to survival and reproduction. Extracellular vesicles (ECVs) carry a wide range of proteins and offer a fairly new sensory system for animal communication. In general, extracellular vesicles are membranes surrounded structures released by cells. Within the … Continue reading

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