An ancient sensory organ in crocodilians (original) (raw)

Neurology

Nature volume 417, pages 241–242 (2002)Cite this article

Waiting alligators can detect silent ripples in the water even in total darkness.

Abstract

Crocodilians hunt at night, waiting half-submerged for land-bound prey to disturb the water surface. Here I show that crocodilians have specialized sensory organs on their faces that can detect small disruptions in the surface of the surrounding water, and which are linked to a dedicated, hypertrophied nerve system. Such 'dome' pressure receptors are also evident in fossils from the Jurassic period, indicating that these semi-aquatic predators solved the problem of combining armour with tactile sensitivity many millions of years ago.

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Figure 1: Dome pressure receptors (DPRs) in crocodilians.

Figure 2

A. BRITTON

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA
    Daphne Soares

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  1. Daphne Soares
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Correspondence toDaphne Soares.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Soares, D. An ancient sensory organ in crocodilians.Nature 417, 241–242 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/417241a

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