Super Senses Class 5 Notes EVS Chapter 1

All Animals have different senses. They can see, hear, taste, smell and feel.

Ants

• Ants have antennae which they use to smell, touch, feel and communicate with other ants. With the help of these special senses the ants come to know about other ants that are part of its group.
• As the ants move, they leave a smell on the ground. The other ants follow the smell to find the way. 
• Ants move in a line by sensing the smell of the leading ants. When their path is blocked, they move in a line again by following the smell of the leading ants.

Mosquitoes

• Smell of our body.
• Smell of the sole of our feet.
• Heat of our body.

Note: Some male insects can recognize their females by their smell. For example, silkworm.

Dogs

Dogs mark out their own area on the road. They can make out if another dog has come into their area by the smell of its urine or potty (latrine).

This special sense of smell of dogs is used by humans in the following ways:

• For catching criminals
• For detecting undesirable things or bombs

Note: Is a smell ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for everyone in the same way? 
It depends on how a person feels or thinks about a particular smell.

Eyes of Birds

• Most of the birds have their eyes on either side of their head. Their eyes can focus on two different things at a time. When they look straight ahead, both their eyes focus on the same object.
• Birds like sparrow, crow, pigeon, eagle, etc. have eyes on either side of the head. The size of their eyes is much smaller than that of their head. In most birds, eyes are fixed and cannot move. So birds have to turn their heads to see around. 
• An owl has eyes in front of its head (like in humans).
• When a bird focuses both its eyes on an object, it can estimate the distance.
• When its eyes focus on two different things, it increases its range of vision. With two eyes, the span of vision increases.
• Some birds like kites, eagles, vultures can see four times as far as we can. That is, these birds can see things from a distance of eight metres what we can see from a distance of two metres.

An eagle in the sky can see a roti on the ground from a distance of one and a half to two kms

Seeing Colours

Animals cannot see as many colours as we can. It is believed that animals that are awake in the daytime can see some colours. Those animals that are awake at night can see things only in black and white colours.

Animal Ears

• We cannot easily see birds’ ears. Their ears are small holes covered with feathers.
• Animals whose ears can be seen are: dog, cat, elephant, cow, buffalo, rabbit, lion, tiger, horse and monkey.
• Animals whose ears are bigger than our ears are: elephant, dog, horse, buffalo, cow, etc.
• Large sized ears of animals can collect more sound waves which make their hearing power stronger than ours.
• Snakes do not have external ears (which can be seen). They only feel the vibrations on the ground.
• Birds also give alarm calls to warn about the danger. Some birds even have different sounds for different kinds of dangers. For example, there is a different warning call if the enemy is coming from the sky or if the enemy is on the ground.
  
  Bird calling out to warn about danger

• High up on a tree, a langur warns others of dangers like a tiger or leopard. The Langur does this by making a special warning call.
• Fishes give alarm call by electric signals.
• Dolphins also make different sounds to give messages to each other.

Dolphin producing sound

Note: Some pet animals like dogs, cats and parrots can be trained to understand our language.

Sleep-Waking

Some animals go into a long, deep sleep in certain seasons. Then they are not seen for many months. For example, lizards are not seen during the cold season. They stay awake almost during the entire day in winters.
Sloth looks like a bear but is not. It spends almost 17 hours a day sleeping while hanging upside down on a tree branch. The sloth eats the leaves of the same tree on which it lives. When it has eaten enough leaves from that tree, it moves to the nearby tree.

Sloths live for about 40 years and in that time they move around only eight trees. Once a week it comes down from the tree to relieve itself.

Sleeping time of different animals:

Tiger

The tiger is one of the most alert animals.

• A tiger can see six times better at night than most of us.
• The tiger’s whiskers are very sensitive and can sense the movements or vibrations in air. They help the tiger move in the dark and find its prey.
• A tiger’s sense of hearing is so sharp that it can make out the difference between the rustling of leaves and the sound of an animal moving on the grass. The ears of the tiger can move in different directions and this helps to catch the sounds from all around.
• Tigers make different sounds for different purposes like when it is angry or to call out to a tigress. It can also roar or snarl. It’s roar can be heard up to 3 kilometres away.
• Each tiger has its own area which may cover several kilometres. Tigers mark their area with their urine.

Animals in Danger

• Elephants are killed for their tusks.
• Rhinoceros are killed for their horn.
• Tigers, crocodiles and snakes are killed for their skins.
• Musk deer are killed to make scent from their musk.

People who kill animals are called Hunters and Poachers.

The number of tigers and many other animals in our country is reducing. There is a danger that some of them will soon disappear. To protect the animals, our government has made some forests as Protected Areas. Examples, Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and ‘Ghana’ in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. In these areas nobody can hunt animals or destroy the jungle.