Senses, echoes and the brain

Some animals have senses that are very different from ours. A dolphin makes clicking sounds. The sounds travel through the water, hit a fish and bounce back as an echo. The dolphin hears the echo and can tell where the fish is and how far away it is, even in murky water where eyes are not much use. Dolphins can hear very high sounds that people cannot hear. Bats use echoes in the air in the same way to find insects at night. Some snakes, such as pythons, have special parts that sense the heat given off by a warm animal, so they can find prey in the dark. These senses are adaptations. Different animals need different information, so they have different senses. We can compare senses of animals, but we never say that one kind of child’s sense is better than another’s.