Mammals Have Undergone Tremendous Evolutionary Changes - Essay Example

Information gathered is processed internally to help in the capture of intended prey. This paper seeks to discuss the reason for the evolution of echolocation, sonar, and electrical communication to solve similar habitat problems by first describing the problems and then selection pressures that give rise to these solutions.

Several problems are encountered by species that use echolocation, sonar, and electrical communication as a means of survival. These problems include the location of species locality, the distinction between prey and a non-prey, deciphering the noise produced by a certain prey, degradation of frequencies, detection of slow-moving or small prey, geographical orientation, avoiding predator, prey capture, the finding of mate, receiving fainter frequency, reflective ground and unwanted echoes ( Neuweiler, 1990).
Selection pressure is adopted by a species to overcome certain adverse conditions or in response to changing environments. Notably, some species that adopt the strategies mentioned move to the uppermost of the habitat to acquire their set prey. This enables them to get the target species with minimal energy. For example, this is the case with flying bats. They usually go for the insects that occupy the region above the trees. This area is quiet as the vegetation is usually not compact. At the same time, a large concentration of insects that they depend on is located in this region. This enables these mammals to get their food without spending much energy (Neuweiler, 1990).

Additionally, other species forage closer to the vegetation. The main reason why some species take on this form of adaptation is that most of the insects are located in close vicinity to their habitat which is usually the vegetation. However, most of the bats opt to forage in freer zones. This usually affects the type of frequency they receive as sometimes they may mistakenly receive frequency, not from their target prey. To counter such a problem from arising, the bats, for example, have selectively evolved another type of echolocation that aims at specifically targeting the prey (Neuweiler, 1990).

Some species adopt a strategy of foraging near or within the vegetation. Such a scenario allows the bat to be bombarded with a variety of echoes. Other sources of sound and noise arising from vegetation are difficult to avoid. In such a situation, a specific frequency within a particular rage is released so as only to identify the target prey. In some cases, the prey is peaked from the surface or the ground. This is usually observed in some bat species. For example, most bats will emit a broadband signal to avoid any form of obstruction from the ground. Other bats opt to forage over the water's surface. Most bat uses their legs to forage on vertebrates and invertebrates in the water. If familiarity is developed, they relocate to new areas (Tyack, & Miller, 2002).

Interestingly, many species particularly bats have demonstrated remarkable evolution of echolocation, sonar, and electrical communication to solve similar habitat problems. Indeed, several selection pressures have given rise to these evolutions. Most notable include the location of species locality, the distinction between prey and a non-prey, deciphering the noise produced by a certain prey, degradation of frequencies, detection of slow-moving or small prey, geographical orientation, avoiding predator, prey capture, the finding of mate, receiving fainter frequencies, reflective ground, and unwanted echoes. Notable adaptations include a change of habitat to more favorable habitats where they spend minimal energy locating their prey. Read More