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[Bennett Prescott]

Jon,

WTF are you talking about already?

[Ivan Beaver]

Bennett Prescott wrote on Mon, 08 October 2007 18:34

Jon, WTF are you talking about already?

I was wondering the same thing, but was afraid to ask.  Glad I am not the only one

[Mike Babcock]

Ivan Beaver wrote on Mon, 08 October 2007 18:36

Bennett Prescott wrote on Mon, 08 October 2007 18:34 Jon, WTF are you talking about already? I was wondering the same thing, but was afraid to ask.  Glad I am not the only one

I've been disqualified from answering even though I was technically right before talking to Jon.

[Scott Raymond]

Mitch Grant wrote on Sun, 07 October 2007 11:27

Well, there is this: This is a report of experiments which provide evidence in support of the existence of an electric sense in the echidna, or spiny anteater Tachyglossus aculeatus. It is the first known example of electroreception in a terrestrial animal. 2. In each of four animals anaesthetized with alpha-chloralose, afferent responses were recorded in dissected filaments of the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve which supplies skin of the upper jaw. Recordings were obtained from a total of forty-seven units identified as electroreceptors, by their responses to weak voltage pulses using focal stimulation of the moist skin surface. 3. In the absence of a stimulus, some receptors had an irregular resting discharge; others were silent. The receptive field for each receptor consisted of a discrete spot. Receptive fields were restricted to the tip of the snout. Cathodal stimulation over the receptive spot was excitatory for the duration of an applied voltage pulse. Reversal of stimulus polarity silenced any on-going activity and was followed by a post-anodal rebound excitation. 4. Receptor threshold was best measured not in air but with the snout immersed in tap water. An electric field was applied between a pair of large plate electrodes on either side of the snout. Threshold for thirty receptors lay in the range 1.8-73 mV cm-1. Measurements of response latency and of conduction path length gave estimates of axonal conduction velocities for the afferent fibres of 10-18 m Receptors responded to sinusoidally changing voltage gradients over the range 0.5-200 Hz with a maximum sensitivity at 20 Hz. 5. In one experiment a receptor site was marked with fine pins. Serial sections of the piece of underlying skin revealed a large mucus-secreting gland at the marked spot. Similar glands in skin of the platypus have previously been shown to be the sites of electroreceptors. 6. In a behavioural experiment an echidna was trained to choose between two identical tap water-filled troughs, one of which had a weak electric field across it. The animal learned to detect field strengths down to 1.8 mV cm-1 which corresponded to threshold for the most sensitive receptor measured in a subsequent electro-physiological experiment. It is concluded that the echidna, like the other Australian representative of the monotremes, the platypus, has an electric sense. It remains to be determined what kinds of sources of electric fields the animal encounters in its normal habitat.

So now we have anteaters trained to detect whether or not our subs are working?  What do you do?  Shove their snouts in the port and see if they twitch?    

[Alan Stevens]

Scott Raymond (Scott R) wrote on Tue, 09 October 2007 01:28

So now we have anteaters trained to detect whether or not our subs are working?  What do you do?  Shove their snouts in the port and see if they twitch?

I thought that what the skunks were for...I'm so confused.

[Scott Raymond]

Alan Stevens wrote on Tue, 09 October 2007 13:50

Scott Raymond (Scott R) wrote on Tue, 09 October 2007 01:28 So now we have anteaters trained to detect whether or not our subs are working?  What do you do?  Shove their snouts in the port and see if they twitch?     I thought that what the skunks were for...I'm so confused.

Me too!  I only have experience with skunks and irrigation pipe.  We need the resisdent expert on skunks and subs I guess.  Rumor has it Mississippi is a hotspot for that. He's probably out in the "field" doing research on this new techonology.

[Mark Meagher]

Maybe they are predisposed to stop and smell a crock of shit? Enough already, spill the beans genius.

[Dave Barnett]

"Anteater" was my nickname in 8th grade gym class, but that's a different subject entirely.