WHALE'S SENSE OF HEARING.

North Otago Times, 26 July 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

WHALE'S SENSE OF HEARING.

It seems. perfectly evident that wlmles must hear when in the water (says the "Field"). This inference is confirmed by tho comparatively small development of .the other sense organs. The eye, for instance, is very smuPl nnd can lie .of little use even at ; the comparatively small depths to which whales are now believed to descend. Again, the sense of smell, judging by the rudimentary conditions of the olfactory organs, must be in abeyance. and whales have no sense organs. comparable to the lateral line system of fishes. Consequently it would seem that when below the surface of the water they must defend chiefly upon the sense of bearing. Probably this sense is so highly developed as to enable the animals in the midst of the vibrations made by, the screw-like movements of the tail or flukes to distinguish tho sound (.or the vibrations) made by the impact of the water against tho rocks, even in a dead calm, and, in the case of piscivorous species, to recognise by the pulse in the water Hie presence of a shoal of fish. Failing in this explanation it is difficult to imagine how whales can find their way about in the semidarkness and avoid collisions with rocks and rockbound coasts.