Organisms and Their Environments

Life Science

Sensory Organs

What are senses?• Tell animals what they need to know about their environment

•All environmental signals involve a receptor organ.

What are sensory organs?

• Sensory organs are any part of the body receives signals from the environment.

•They help to keep them out of danger and enable them to find food or shelter.

Human Senses• Seeing• Hearing• Tasting• Smelling• Touching

Seeing• Accomplished using

eyes

• The eye is an almost spherical organ.

• The eye is protected by bones in the skull.

• The eye is responsible for detecting colors, shapes, sizes, and space by receiving light.

SeeingOther animals’ eyes may differ in type, number, and in location on the body.

Behaviors Related to this Sense...

•Locate food or shelter

•Recognize objects or other organisms

Hearing• Accomplished using

ears• The ear is located on

either side of the head.• The ears receives

sound vibrations from the environment.

HearingOther animals’ hearing organs may differ

in type and in location on the body.

Behaviors Related to this Sense...

•Locate food

•Sense danger to escape enemies

•Communication

Tasting• Accomplished using the

taste buds located on the tongue.

• Examples of tastes that humans can detect are...– Salty– Sweet– Bitter– Sour

TastingOther animals’ taste organs may differ in

type and in location on the body.

Behaviors Related to this Sense...

•Judge which foods are okay to eat

Smelling• Accomplished using

the nose• Humans react to

different smells in the environment in different ways.

SmellingOther animals’ smelling organs may differ

in type and in location on the body.

Behaviors Related to this Sense...

•Avoid danger

•Find food

•Recognize other organisms

Touching• Accomplished using the

skin• The skin can detect 5

different types of sensations:– touch

– pressure

– cold

– pain

– heat

TouchingOther animals’ touching organs may differ

in type and in location on the body.

Behaviors Related to this Sense...

•Identify food

•React to dangerous situations

•Care for each other

In general, every animal has the senses it needs for its own

environment and way of life.

Other Animals Senses• Some other animals need different information

about the world to survive, so they have senses that can be different from humans.– echolocation in bats

– night (infrared) vision in some snakes

– electric senses of rays and sharks

– magnetic senses of migratory birds (pigeons), butterflies, and some whales

Echolocation in Bats

Night Vision of Some Snakes

Electric Senses of Rays and Sharks

Go to the following website…http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/sharks-&-rays/senses.htm

Magnetic Sensesof migratory birds, butterflies, and some

whales

Organisms and Their Environments

Life Science

Sensory Organs