Page 70 - One Million Things: Animal Life - The Incredible Visual Guide

BAT
Finding food at night is not a
problem for insect-eating bats.
They produce high-pitched
sounds that bounce off potential
prey, such as moths. Their highly
sensitive ears detect these echoes
Eardrum just and the bat then uses them to
below knee of pinpoint the position of its prey.
front leg

CRICKET
A keen sense of hearing
enables crickets to hear the
chirping sounds produced by
potential mates or rivals. Sounds
are picked up by a thin membrane
located on the cricket’s knee.

AFRICAN ELEPHANT SERVAL
Elephants communicate using An African savanna cat, the
sounds that humans can hear. serval has long legs that allow
But they also produce very it to see over tall grasses and
Large ears
open wide to low-pitched sounds that travel large ear flaps that move to pick
capture sounds over long distances to keep the up even the faintest sounds
herd in touch. African elephants made by small prey, especially
pick up these sounds with their rodents. Once the prey’s
ears, and from the ground position is pinpointed, the
through their feet and trunks. serval leaps and pounces.

Large, movable
ears detect prey

HEARING

Whether it is used to find food, recognize mates, pick up
sounds made by rivals, or detect the approach of a hungry
predator, hearing is a vitally important sense for many animals.
Sound waves travel through air or water from a vibrating
source, such as an elephant’s vocal cords or a cricket’s wings.
Many animals pick up sound waves using a membrane called
the eardrum that is linked to sound receptors within the ear.

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