Class 5 EVS

Super Senses

We have five sense organs, and they are eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.

Similarly, animals have different senses. Animals can also see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Some of these senses are far developed than in humans. For example, some animals can hear the faintest sound and some can detect the faintest smell. In this lesson, you will learn about the super sense of some animals.

Sense of Smell

Ants

Two ants on a twig

Have you seen ants walking in perfect line towards a jar of cookies? How do ants follow each other and don’t lose their way?

Ants use a scent to do this. An ant secretes a chemical, called pheromone. This leaves a trail of scent. Other ants use this scent to follow the trail. That is how ants are able to march in perfect formation, as if an army is marching in a column.

Mosquito

Mosquito

Mosquitoes can find you even in darkness. In fact, mosquitoes can detect the smell of our body. After all, the female mosquito needs to feed on blood. We apply mosquito repellant cream to ward off mosquitoes. These creams mask our body odour so that mosquitoes can be befooled.

Dogs

Dog

The dogs have well developed sense of smell. A dog uses its urine to mark its territory. A dog can find its way with the help of its markings. Well developed sense of smell of dogs can be a useful tool for us. Dog squads are kept by police and bomb squad. These dogs are trained to recognize the smell of explosives. Dogs are also used at scenes of crime to find evidences.

Sense of Vision

Birds

Eagle

Birds have well developed sense of vision. They can see distant objects which humans cannot see. An eagle can spot a small rat in the field even when the eagle is flying thousands of metres high in the sky. Pigeons can see small grains in the field while flying high in the sky. That is why pigeons always land on a farm where seeds have been freshly sown.

Sense of Hearing

Deer

Many animals have ears coming out of their head. These are called external ears. Humans too have external ears. Can we move our ears the way a deer or a rabbit can? The answer is no. A deer can move its ears in different directions. This helps the deer in hearing better. It moves its ears the way a dish antenna is moved to catch signals.

Sounds to Send Messages

When we need to talk to each other, we make different sounds from our mouth. Similarly, animals make sounds to talk to each other.

Langur

When a monkey or a langur sense danger, it makes a sound to give warning call to other monkeys. Sound of some monkeys can be heard over a distance of many kilometers.

Birds also use sound to give warning call. When the danger is from sky, the bird gives a particular type of sound. When the danger is from the ground, the bird gives a different type of sound. Many birds use different sounds to call a mate.

Dolphins give various sounds to talk to each other. Scientists believe that dolphins have a well developed language to talk to each other.