Seismic sensitivity and communication in subterranean mammals

Many subterranean mammals are reported to generate or respond to seismic vibrations. Potential uses of seismic sensitivity in these animals include intraspecific communication between burrow systems, location of prey, detection of predators and even “seismic echolocation” of distant obstacles. Although the auditory and/or somatosensory systems have been variously implicated, the mechanisms used for the detection of ground vibrations often remain unclear. This chapter will concentrate on three groups of subterranean mammals in which seismic sensitivity and/or communication has been studied in the most detail, the spalacid mole-rats, the bathyergid mole-rats and the golden moles, and will consider how the evolution of seismic sensitivity might have been affected by factors including digging mechanism, food type, sociality and phylogeny.