[LUM#10] The Hidden Senses of Cetaceans

[LUM Magazine] - Published on September 5, 2019 in Science and Society

Researchers at the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology in Montpellier have shown that pilot whales are capable of perceiving tastes and/or smells, even though these cetaceans were previously thought to lack taste and smell.

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Are cetaceans capable of perceiving tastes and smells and using this information to find food or communicate with one another? For a long time, these animals were thought to lack the senses of smell and taste… To get to the bottom of this, Aurélie Célérier and Bertrand Bouchard, researchers at the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, spent a month crisscrossing the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain to study a species of dolphin: the pilot whale. “We deployed a device that releases substances designed to stimulate their sense of smell and/or taste, and then we observed their reactions, ” explains the marine biologist. Equipped with a drone and underwater cameras to track the cetaceans’ movements, as well as hydrophones to measure their acoustic activity, the researchers analyzed the behavior of pilot whales in the presence of DMS, a chemical compound naturally emitted at the surface of areas of high marine productivity that serves as an indirect indicator of food availability. “Our observations confirm that these animals react to chemical stimuli in their natural environment, ” explains Aurélie Célérier. These fundamental findings could, in the long term, be used to help protect these species that are essential to the aquatic world. “The use of repellent compounds detected through these sensory modalities could notably be considered to keep cetaceans away from danger zones such as fishing areas and human shipping lanes.”