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Gaspard, Joseph C., III; Bauer, Gordon Bruce; Reep, Roger Lyons; Dziuk, Kimberly; Cardwell, Adrienne; Read, LaToshia; Mann, David A.
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2012 |
Audiogram and auditory critical ratios of two Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris).
Jour. Exper. Biol. 215(9): 1442-1447. DOI:10.1242/jeb.089201. May 2012.
–There is also a comment on this article by Kathryn Knight on p. i of this issue.
ABSTRACT: Manatees inhabit turbid, shallow-water environments and have been shown to have poor visual acuity. Previous studies on hearing have demonstrated that manatees possess good hearing and sound localization abilities. The goals of this research were to determine the hearing abilities of two captive subjects and measure critical ratios to understand the capacity of manatees to detect tonal signals, such as manatee vocalizations, in the presence of noise. This study was also undertaken to better understand individual variability, which has been encountered during behavioral research with manatees. Two Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) were tested in a go/no-go paradigm using a modified staircase method, with incorporated 'catch' trials at a 1: 1 ratio, to assess their ability to detect single-frequency tonal stimuli. The behavioral audiograms indicated that the manatees' auditory frequency detection for tonal stimuli ranged from 0.25 to 90.5 kHz, with peak sensitivity extending from 8 to 32 kHz. Critical ratios, thresholds for tone detection in the presence of background masking noise, were determined with one-octave wide noise bands, 7-12 dB (spectrum level) above the thresholds determined for the audiogram under quiet conditions. Manatees appear to have quite low critical ratios, especially at 8 kHz, where the ratio was 18.3 dB for one manatee. This suggests that manatee hearing is sensitive in the presence of background noise and that they may have relatively narrow filters in the tested frequency range.
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Gaspard, Joseph C., III; Bauer, Gordon B.; Reep, Roger L.; Dziuk, Kimberly; Read, LaToshia; Mann, David A.
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2013 |
Detection of hydrodynamic stimuli by the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris).
Jour. Comp. Physiol. A - Neuroethology Sensory Neural & Behav. Physiol. 199(6): 441-450. 4 tabs. 5 figs. DOI: 10.1007/s00359-013-0822-x. May 10, 2013.
–ABSTRACT: Florida manatees inhabit the coastal and inland waters of the peninsular state. They have little difficulty navigating the turbid waterways, which often contain obstacles that they must circumnavigate. Anatomical and behavioral research suggests that the vibrissae and associated follicle–sinus complexes that manatees possess over their entire body form a sensory array system for detecting hydrodynamic stimuli analogous to the lateral line system of fish. This is consistent with data highlighting that manatees are tactile specialists, evidenced by their specialized facial morphology and use of their vibrissae during feeding and active investigation/manipulation of objects. Two Florida manatees were tested in a go/no-go procedure using a staircase method to assess their ability to detect low-frequency water movement. Hydrodynamic vibrations were created by a sinusoidally oscillating sphere that generated a dipole field at frequencies from 5 to 150 Hz, which are below the apparent functional hearing limit of the manatee. The manatees detected particle displacement of less than 1??m for frequencies of 15–150 Hz and of less than a nanometer at 150 Hz. Restricting the facial vibrissae with various size mesh openings indicated that the specialized sensory hairs played an important role in the manatee's exquisite tactile sensitivity.
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Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia 