--- title: Hidden senses: magnetic birds and turtles, ultraviolet bees, heat-seeing snakes, whiskers and lateral lines — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Hidden senses: magnetic birds and turtles, ultraviolet bees, heat-seeing snakes, whiskers and lateral lines», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: We have five well-known senses, but many animals have extra on --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Hidden senses: magnetic birds and turt… # Hidden senses: magnetic birds and turtles, ultraviolet bees, heat-seeing snakes, whiskers and lateral lines Lesson 232 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/0/) — We have five well-known senses, but many animals have extra ones we can only imagine: they feel the Earth's magnetism, see colours we cannot see, or feel warmth from far away. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/1/) — A homing pigeon let out a hundred kilometres from its loft flies back as if it had a map and compass inside its head, and in a way it has. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/2/) — A bee looking at a plain yellow flower sees a bright pattern pointing to the nectar, like the lit-up arrows that guide a plane onto a runway at night. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/3/) — Each hidden sense fits a life: a snake hunting mice in the dark feels their heat, a fish in a muddy river feels the water move, and a mole in black soil touches everything with its nose. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/4/) — Scientists find these senses by careful tests, for example by switching on a weak radio noise and watching robins lose their way. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/5/) — Homing pigeons find their way back over hundreds of kilometres using the sun, landmarks, smells and probably a sense of the Earth's magnetic field. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/8/) — Bright beach lights confuse turtle hatchlings, which crawl towards the lights instead of the moonlit sea. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/9/) — Bees see ultraviolet light, and many flowers have ultraviolet patterns that guide them to the nectar; bees see red poorly, so many bright red flowers are pollinated by birds instead. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/10/) — Rattlesnakes and other pit vipers have two heat-sensing pits on their faces, so they can find a warm mouse in total darkness. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/11/) — A dog's nose has hundreds of millions of smell cells, and a lamp-post tells it which dogs passed and how recently. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/12/) — Whiskers are deep touch hairs in pockets full of nerves; they feel tiny air movements and help a cat judge gaps, so they must never be cut. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/13/) — A cat's eyes seem to glow in the dark because a shiny layer at the back of the eye reflects light that comes in; no eye makes its own light. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/14/) — Mantis shrimps have up to 16 kinds of colour cells compared with our 3, yet tests found they are not better than us at telling close colours apart. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/15/) — Fish have a lateral line, a row of pores along each side that feels water movement, so they can hold their place in a current or a shoal; blind cave fish steer by it alone. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/16/) — Elephants hear very low rumbles we cannot hear and feel them through their feet, and they may sense distant thunderstorms. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/232-hidden-senses-magnetic-birds-ultraviolet-bees-heat-seeing-snakes/17/) — The star-nosed mole has 22 fleshy fingers on its nose and can find and eat a small worm in less than a quarter of a second. - ← previous: [Electric senses: electric eels, sharks, the platypus bill and charged bees](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/231-electric-senses-eels-sharks-the-platypus-and-charged-bees/) - next →: [Animal minds: clever crows, ravens, jays and parrots](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/233-animal-minds-clever-crows-ravens-jays-and-parrots/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)