00:00The key thing about the grey seal is it's whiskers, they are wonderful, they're so sensitive
00:12that they can detect the wake left behind from prey like fish or even other seals, 15
00:22minutes after the animal has gone past.
00:26That's how sensitive that marvellous moustache is.
00:31It's thought that their whiskers are so good at finding food, even blind seals can
00:38successfully hunt and survive in the wild.
00:42What I've done is I've built a replica snail snout here, seal snout, seal snout, seal snout,
00:50seal snout, so I've built myself a replica snail snout.
00:56Now what I've built here is a replica seal snout.
01:00Here are those fabulous whiskers or vibrosi as they're properly called and it works in
01:06a very, very simple way but it's incredibly effective.
01:08If I turn it around, what would actually be here in terms of the seal itself would be
01:13a tonne of muscle.
01:15Each one of these vibrosi, these whiskers would be independently controlled.
01:20I've put a balloon here just so you can see how even the tiniest movements of one of these
01:24whiskers can actually result in an effect and each one has ten times more nerve endings
01:31than a comparable terrestrial mammal.
01:34That allows it to build up an incredibly detailed picture of the world around it.
01:42Using their super sensitive snouts, seals can track even the smallest underwater vibrations
01:49at a distance of up to 100 metres.
01:53When a swimming fish causes swirling disturbances, the seal's super sensitive whiskers lock
02:00onto the trails it leaves behind in the water.
02:05Once these signals are detected, they can tell the seal the direction of the fish,
02:10its distance from the fish and some say the whiskers even give the seal an indication
02:17of the fish's size.
02:20They might look cute, but with these brilliant bristles, grey seals are a lean, mean,
02:27underwater killing machine.
02:31I know a good moustache when I see one, right? And this, this is 10 out of 10.
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