Super Senses

We have five sense organs, and they are eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.

Eyes give us the sense of vision.
Ears give us the sense of hearing.
Nose gives us the sense of smell.
Tongue gives us the sense of taste.
Skin gives us the sense of touch.

Similarly, animals have different senses. Animals can also see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Some of these senses are far developed than in humans. For example, some animals can hear the faintest sound and some can detect the faintest smell. In this lesson, you will learn about the super sense of some animals.

Sense of Smell

Ants

Have you seen ants walking in perfect line towards a jar of cookies? How do ants follow each other and don’t lose their way?

Ants use a scent to do this. An ant secretes a chemical, called pheromone. This leaves a trail of scent. Other ants use this scent to follow the trail. That is how ants are able to march in perfect formation, as if an army is marching in a column.

Mosquito

Mosquitoes can find you even in darkness. In fact, mosquitoes can detect the smell of our body. After all, the female mosquito needs to feed on blood. We apply mosquito repellant cream to ward off mosquitoes. These creams mask our body odour so that mosquitoes can be befooled.

Dogs

The dogs have well developed sense of smell. A dog uses its urine to mark its territory. A dog can find its way with the help of its markings. Well developed sense of smell of dogs can be a useful tool for us. Dog squads are kept by police and bomb squad. These dogs are trained to recognize the smell of explosives. Dogs are also used at scenes of crime to find evidences.

Sense of Vision

Birds

Birds have well developed sense of vision. They can see distant objects which humans cannot see. An eagle can spot a small rat in the field even when the eagle is flying thousands of metres high in the sky. Pigeons can see small grains in the field while flying high in the sky. That is why pigeons always land on a farm where seeds have been freshly sown.

Sense of Hearing

Many animals have ears coming out of their head. These are called external ears. Humans too have external ears. Can we move our ears the way a deer or a rabbit can? The answer is no. A deer can move its ears in different directions. This helps the deer in hearing better. It moves its ears the way a dish antenna is moved to catch signals.

Sounds to Send Messages

When we need to talk to each other, we make different sounds from our mouth. Similarly, animals make sounds to talk to each other.

When a monkey or a langur sense danger, it makes a sound to give warning call to other monkeys. Sound of some monkeys can be heard over a distance of many kilometers.

Birds also use sound to give warning call. When the danger is from sky, the bird gives a particular type of sound. When the danger is from the ground, the bird gives a different type of sound. Many birds use different sounds to call a mate.

Dolphins give various sounds to talk to each other. Scientists believe that dolphins have a well developed language to talk to each other.

Sleeping Time

For a healthy young human, 8 hours sleep is sufficient for a 24 hour day. Lets us see the sleeping time for some animals.

A sloth bear sleeps for 18 hours in a day.
A snake sleeps for 18 hours in a day.
A cat sleeps for 12 hours in a day.
A cow sleeps for 4 hours in a day.
A giraffe sleeps for 2 hours in a day.

Tiger: The Super Animal

A tiger can see six times better at night than most of the humans.

Whiskers of tiger are super sensitive. A tiger uses its whiskers to detect vibrations in air. It helps the tiger in moving at night.

A tiger has powerful sense of hearing. A tiger can easily find the difference between rustling of grass and movement of an animal in the grass.

Tiger marks its territory with its urine. A tiger can detect the presence of another tiger around. It will always avoid coming close to another tiger.

A tiger can make different types of sound. The roar of a tiger can be heard up to a distance of 3 kilometer.

Exercise Solution

Think and Tell

Question 1: How did the ant know that the other ants were not from its group? How did the guard ant recognise this ant?

Answer: Ant could recognize the smell of other ants. That is who it knew that other ants were not from its group. The guard ant could recognize this ant by smell.

Try this and write

Question 1: Drop some sugar, jaggery or anything sweet on the ground. Wait until the ants come there.

(a) How long did it take for the ants to come?

Answer: Ants came within half an hour.

(b) Did one ant come first or a group of ants came together?

Answer: First of all, one ant came and went back. After that, all ants came together.

Answer: Ants carried the food with them.

(d) Where do they go from there?

Answer: They went to their home.

(e)Do they move in a line?

Answer: Yes, all ants moved in a line.

Question 3: Write the name of a bird which has eyes in front of its head (like in humans).

Answer: Owl

Question 4: Write the names of some birds which have eyes on either side of the head. What is the size of their eyes as compared to the size of their head?

Answer: Sparrow and pigeons have eyes on either side of the head. The size of eyes is small compared to the size of their head.

Question 5: Write the names of ten animals whose ears can be seen.

Answer: Tiger, cat, dog, elephant, cow, buffalo, dog, mouse, rabbit and horse

Question 6: Write the names of some animals whose ears are bigger than our ears.

Answer: Cow, buffalo, elephant, dog, goat

Question 7: Can you understand the sounds of some animals? Which animals?

Answer: Yes, I can understand the sound of my pet dog.

Question 8: Do some animals understand your language? Which ones?

Answer: My pet dog understands what I tell to it.

Question 9: What do you think are some of the dangers to tigers in the jungle?

Answer: A tiger can be attacked by another tiger.

Question 10: Can human beings also be a threat to animals? How?

Answer: Human beings can kill a tiger during hunting.