Life in Slow Motion?
According to another study, the research shows that body size and metabolic rate both fundamentally constrain how species interact with their environment. For example, in the realm of the predator and prey interactions, the ground squirrel may perceive itself as moving fast and being very agile where as the owl will clump many movements together and have a general perception of what the ground squirrel is doing.
Figure 1.
- The ability of an organism to track a moving object depends on the time integral over which the individual can obtain its information. This is determined by its ability to resolve temporal information. In cases where an animal, such as a ground squirrel, displays complex movement (a), conspecifics may perceive the individual as moving according to a first-order integral of its actual movement owing to its high temporal resolution abilities (b). However, a species with lower temporal resolution abilities, such as a short-eared owl, may perceive the motion as an even higher order derivative of the actual motion, meaning information of prey motion at finer temporal scales is not available to it (c).
Another concept that the researched articles touched on was a phenomenon called "critical flicker fusion frequency," which is based on the maximum speed of flashing lights an animal can see before it just looks like a steady, constant light. this is the same concept that televisions use to make it look like one constant picture and not just a flickering screen. The study that took place researched 30 different species of animals and the conclusions that took place after the research showed that the larger animals tested tended to see life go very fast and the animals on the smaller spectrum saw life slower. Co-author and University of St. Andrews biologist Graeme Ruxton, states "we shouldn't underestimate the brains of insects and tiny vertebrates. Having eyes that send updates to the brain at much higher frequencies than our eyes do is of no value if the brain cannot process that information equally quickly," Ruxton says. "Hence, this work highlights the impressive capabilities of even the smallest animal brains. Flies might not be deep thinkers, but they can make good decisions very quickly."
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Do you believe that the primary reason for small animals to see the world slower that other animals is because of predators, or do you think it is for a different reason?
Are large animals with slower metabolisms at a disadvantage in regards to seeing the world?
Sources:
McLendon, Russell. “Small Animals See in Slow Motion, Study Finds.” MNN - Mother Nature Network, Mother Nature Network, 5 June 2017
“Metabolic Rate and Body Size Are Linked with Perception of Temporal Information ☆.” Metabolic Rate and Body Size Are Linked with Perception of Temporal Information, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213003060.
geobeats. “Small Animals Perceive Time as Slower.” YouTube, YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013
I found it very interesting that animals can see things faster than us. I believe it is very true that we underestimate the ability of the little insects we think are not that smart. Their brians work faster than our's to sense the motion and give them the ability to move faster from dangers coming their ways.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting just how different smaller animals percieve everyday life compared to larger animals. Do you think smaller prey have an advantage over larger predators due to their slower perception of the world?
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