Question: which animals are capable of hearing infrasounds??

Cheryl Andisi answered on 18 Jan 2017:

@ Dolly da Gucci,
This December i was reading a book titled 101 dalmatians. Throughout the text, the author kept referring to the dogs communicating with each the without their human pets (yes, thats what they said 🙂 ) hearing or understanding a thing and I wondered how that was. It wasn’t by barking, or waging the tails, or any form of communication the human eyes and ears were able to perceive.

Sound, is made of waves of high and low pressure. These waves are collected through the pinna of the ear and channeled to the middle ear where there is vibration of the hairs, and the inner ear for sound transmission. The nerve impulses collect the vibrating amplitude information and send it to our brains for interpretation. The human ear hears best waves that range from a fraction of an inch to about a metre. Infrasound on the other hand has waves that range from tens of metres to miles and can travel longer distances. These will be sounds that are created by things such as volcanoes, earthquakes, ocean waves etc. Since we cannot hear these sounds, our only perception of these is by feeling the vibrations. However, there are animals that can make and hear these sounds. they include Pigeons, Guinea fowl, Cod, Cuttlefish, Octopus, Squid, Elephants, Whales, Hippos, Rhinos etc. I am sure this is some form of adaptation for these animals. Scientists have developed tools that they can use to monitor these sounds in order to monitor earthquakes and or volcano activities in areas where these are prone.
Have you watched the Disney animation “Finding Dory”? Here, you will see an example of how whales use this ability to communicate with each other 🙂