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Tuesday, 31 July 2012

DYK #6: Jaws...


Though not as proficient as shown in movies, this water predator is known to have a keen sense for the red liquid that courses our veins. Parts per million (a.k.a ppm) is a commonly used unit of measurement. This is equivalent to one drop of water diluted into 50 liters
They have excellent hearing in the low frequencies and can pick out the sound of something thrashing around in the water well over 1,000 feet away. They're also outfitted with sensory cavities called the ampullae of Lorenzini, which register the faint electrical fields generated by living bodies. And then there's the shark's sense of smell, which though not quite as phenomenal as was once believed (you used to see a stat claiming that 70 percent of a shark's brain was devoted to olfaction, which seems to have been a real overstatement) is still plenty acute: sharks can detect some chemicals at concentrations of around one part per 25 million, and experts claim they've seen sharks go nuts over a single drop of blood in a 2,000-gallon tank.
More facts on sharks senses:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/sharks/anatomy/Senses.shtml

How sharks work:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/marine-life/shark3.htm

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