How animals judge artistic swimming

Background

Humans are similar enough to recognise chairs, tables, mountains, birds flying, dogs barking and so on. We are different enough to disagree what colour, dish, smell and so on pleases us. But the odiferous world of a dog, the visual acuity of an eagle or bat, suggests that physiological sensory pathways of sentient beings differ.

So how would a panel of experienced animal officials judge the performance of a team free routine at the Olympics?

The Chair: Judge Dread


Judge Dread calls the 15 elite judges to their pre-competition assembly. Three tables of five will assess the team free routine on objective criteria. Mathematics will modulate the scores to remove wide discrepancies between judges, and a final score with components will decide the victor and funding.

Judge Dread, a human, is a tall, elegant, tweed jacketed, kilt wearing, effeminate who demands affection. Her pudding bowl cut and greying brown hair reflect a lifetime of wearing a Knox-like swim cap. Her face is slightly wrinkled due to the extremes of ultraviolet light exposure while training/coaching outside in California and then spending weeks indoors judging figures under pools' strip lights.

Her demeanor has caused many to question her ability to do anything other than synchronised swimming. Two facial expressions have been seen. One is likened to a grey concrete wall - emotionless, unflinching, certain in its strength, and above all neutral. The other is similar to a street artist living statue who needs a restroom break. The motionless artist wickedly smiles and then leaves the pedestrian crowd terrified esp kids.

Such is the commitment that elite Artistic Swimming (AS)  judges must demonstrate.

The Animal Elite Judges

AS judges have varied experiences eg some are airborne, some terrestrial, and a few aquatic. Mammals, insect, and invertebrates are typical as they bring their own sensibilities and personalities.

Language

I am not aware that judges need to speak.

At non elite competitions, judges reveal their scores simultaneously on flip boards, whereupon an interlocutor conveys them to scribes. The scriptures are transported to a secure mathematical control centre. Several minutes later some scores are announced - subject to modification. Final results are found in secure envelopes that are carried to a Master of Ceremony, who pronounces the results.

Judges are highly specialised in judging. Speaking is not necessary. In fact, speaking between judges is prohibited and this can be very troublesome for specific animals.


Three Panels of Judges

The three panels of judges assess different aspects of the performances:

Artistic Impression
Execution and synchronisation
Difficulty

Panel 1: Artistic Impression

Choreography, Music interpretation, and Manner of Presentation


FINA (Fédération Internationale De Natation) concluded that Zebra Finches were an appropriate balance between multicolour vision and pragmatism; shrimp have 15 colour cones in their retina but suffer from the conflict of being collaborative but individually single minded.

The Zebra Finch's ability to see more colours than humans is more important than their constant tweeting.

This panel has four attributes


  • tetrachromatic ie the judges have four colour cones in their retina cf human trichromatic 
  • they communicate by singing and are exceptional in music interpretation
  • easily distracted when not perched
  • vain and acutely sensitive to appearance
  • but highly focused when required.


With such a large colour range to impress them with, teams struggle with this 'artistic impression' panel. The mathematical control center (MCC) relishes the statistical challenges that this panel provides. The MCC maintains a technical opacity within their silo. Perch position makes the tetrachromatic experience highly variable as differences in hue, shade, and luminescence are accentuated. It is rumoured that the MCC adjusts scores according to physical distance between judges.



Although Zebra Finches are found at elite competitions where events are held across the world in nice weather, national competitions are much more subject to seasonal variations. 

Reindeer are often judges in the winter as their ability to alter their visual perception according to the season is unique. In snowy conditions they can see UV light.
Outside the pool environment, the lichen they feed on glows a striking purple against the white blanket of snow. It also helps avoid falling prey to wolves, whose coats don’t reflect UV, making them appear black against the snow.





Although entrepreneurial and sometimes arrogant - confident in their own opinion - they do have humility and are responsive to feedback. They avoid Zebra Finches like the SARS2-2019.


Panel 2: Execution & Synchronisation


This panel must contain a range of skills that make some animals ideal judges. The panel's animal composition varies but as a group have attributes in:


  • Echo-location
    • Although there are theories that some humans can detect ultrasonic effects, the ability of hominid AS judges has not been consistent. Therefore the Hammerhead Bat was introduced to the role seven years ago.
    • Echo-location is the synchronisation monitoring skill of choice. Bodies reflect ultrasound and perfectly synchronised movements result in smooth non-jagged sounds. This is particularly noticeable when the athletes have identical bodies. At the elite level, the Hammerhead Bat can even detect if swimmers have foot corns or calluses in different places.





  • Gravity detection and/or angular acceleration
    • The Nautilus is able to detect not only gravity, like the Comb Jelly, but angular accelerations as well, like octopuses, squids, and cuttlefishes.
    • Swimmers’ angular acceleration was an under-appreciated aspect of the sport. The beauty of swimmers with precisely timed angular acceleration has been described as sublime.
    • The Nautilus revealed this gaping hole. It has two organs (statocysts) that combine with ciliary movements that can measure the acceleration down to milli-radians per second2






  • Smell
    • The star nosed mole can smell underwater. They do this by partially exhaling to hold an air bubble on the tip of their nose to absorb surrounding odours before inhaling the bubble and deciphering the scent molecules in it.
    • It’s all too easy to take smell and touch for granted but the star of this panel is both disruptive and inspiring. Disruptive because it needs to be on the deck with nose in the water to maximise its contribution. It is inspiring because of the new aspects of the sport that are now assessed at the elite level - smell.
    • Athletes smell. Even swimmers smell. But this animal detects the smells of hormones that are released monthly. Teams that train intensely and continuously for months typically start to have a characteristic odour. This degree of training intensity and the synchronisation of smell rarely occurs even at the elite level. The star nosed mole can identify those unique teams and award them high scores.





  • Thermo-reception
    • When Professor DJ of UCSF told FINA that “Infrared sense is basically a souped-up [version] of thermo-reception in humans”  and that vampire bats “have a very specialised anatomical apparatus to measure heat”, FINA accused her of lying. Several years later, FINA relinquished.
    • Many animals are able to sense heat in the environment, but vampire bats (and several types of snakes) are the only vertebrates known to have highly specialised systems for doing so. Vampire bats have infrared receptors on their noses that let them home in on the most blood-laden veins in their prey.
    • It is intriguing to discover that these bats are self selected to appear in this panel. Although the bats’ contributions are indubitable, the fact that the panel’s name contains “Execution” was the reason for the self selection.
    • In spite of their appearance and name, Vampire bats are kind, empathetic, and even gentle. They care about people, and they consider the emotions and needs of others in their day-to-day interactions.





  • Magneto detection
    • At the elite level, swimmers are replacing their skeletons with flexible rods of carbon fibre/steel. The increased flexibility and reduced weight enables the combination of Gordian Knot like moves and trouble free joints to coexist. A type of cheating, the swimmers have been identified by the Homing Pigeons' magneto detection.
    • Homing Pigeons and other migratory birds use their magnetic sense for long-distance navigation, some for magnetic alignment or orientation, and some animals may have the capability to sense the magnetic field but do nothing.
    • Magnetite - an iron oxide - is a trace component of steel and therefore is magneto detectable. Furthermore light-dependent chemical reactions in crypto-chrome proteins in the eyes of homing pigeons enables extreme precision in detecting the direction of the magnetic field. These judges can identify individual cheating athletes before arrival at the venue.
    • The judges find their magneto companion to be frivolous in many ways eg carrying a shot of whisky wherever it goes boosts moral, but it is usually frugal and therefore keep its companions happy.





  • Electro-reception
    • The platypus can detect tiny electric fields of a few nano-volts per cm - several million times more sensitive than hominids. Sharks also have these abilities but the FINA swooned over the dignified look of the platypus. Platypuses use electro-reception to find fresh food hiding in the sediment of turbulent water. 
    • This animal has evolved a dignity that gives it a dramatic evolutionary strength that will ensure its survival in perpetuity. It therefore will be a long standing member of this panel of judges keeping a calm hold on an ever changing sport. It may also exist when the USA achieves gold at the Olympics. Although dignified, it is also pliable and does succumb to Pigeon’s tipples.
    • Accuracy in  electro-reception enables any current produced by the rapidly rotating magnetic forces created by angular momentum to be assessed. Scores are assigned to the precision that a team can synchronise with a preassigned performance electro chart. A somewhat technical field, the platypus has evolved to do this under most circumstances including blatant drunkenness.





Of note, this panel is entirely or mostly blind which is not uncommon at the elite level eg Judge Dread is typical.


Panel 3: Difficulty

This panel also contains diverse attributes. The absence of Magneto receptive skills has been controversial and we await the final ruling. ✤


  • Ultrasonic Hearing and echo-location detection
    • The Greater Wax moth always knows where fellow Hammerhead Bats are located because due to their ultrasonic hearing, they are able to know when it uses echo-location. 
    • Elite submerged athletes communicate with each other using ultrasound. This enables precise execution of the most complex moves. The moths hear this chatter and deduct points for excessive use. 






  • Carbon dioxide
    • Mosquitoes can detect it to find their next meal. It is a mark of a team’s talent to perform technically difficult moves without producing any carbon dioxide. The mosquito is acutely sensitive to this but does need to be kept on fly paper to restrain a natural instinct to fly and bite.
    • Only once has a mosquito awarded a top score.





  • Gravity detection
    • The Comb Jelly is an evolutionary older creature than the Nautilus. It has only one statocyst like a rock sensing gravity’s pull and the subsequent ciliary response is entirely mechanical. Primitive as this may seem, the importance is found when distinguishing the very highest of the most elite performers - scores ranging 9.997 and 10.000
    • The black hole was first performed by Svetlana Romashina. The vortex produced in her 2020 Olympic routine practices are said to have drained entire pools into an extremely dense highly gravitational black hole. Admittedly the move has been witnessed by few, but FINA have once again leapt into dynamic action and brought the appropriate skill set to its judges.
    • Although the Comb Jelly has not judged at the elite level, it is known to be brave but vulnerable. We look forward to a long lasting and important member of an increasingly perfect sport.






  • Feeling the Flow
    • Moving through water is very different than through air. Many aquatic animals have developed unique sensory systems notably the lateral line system. Zebrafish have surface lateral line structures that run along the flanks and dot the head of the fish. They are clusters of hair cells similar to the mammalian ear and vestibular system and relay information about the velocity and acceleration of water flow.
    • Although the ability to see splashes of water above the surface is easy, seeing such turbulence under the surface is much more challenging to those without lateral line systems. Traditionally moves are awarded difficulty points based on visual criteria that do not include subsurface water turbulence. The zebrafish has corrected this omission and will feature prominently in forthcoming competitions.
    • Although aloof, it is a true professional and has the respect of the star nosed mole. The zebrafish is one of only three animal judges found in the water at competitions.




  • Touch
    • The star nosed mole is the only animal found in two panels. This contrasts with human panels where humans appear to be on all three. 
    • The sense of touch covers so much more than just feeling something make contact with the skin. In just a fraction of a second, touch receptors detect pressure, heat, texture, and even pain. The number of receptors in a given area dictate the sensitivity of this detection and the star nosed mole has an exquisite nose with six times as many sensory receptors than human fingertips.
    • The mole awards high scores to those teams that generate high Qi - a force or strength that is possessed by every animate or inanimate object but which can be increased and controlled by the best coaches with the best teams. The force has been used in horizontal swimming for about four years - the US Swim team emerged before races with large red circles on their bodies. Vacuum cups applied to their bodies increase their Qi and therefore their performance. Cupping and Qi enhancement are permitted by FINA.
    • Sensing Qi is an exquisite skill that typically is found only in cave dwelling Taoist monks. But the star nosed mole also has this skill.
    • Many of the best teams are similar in their own development as Taoist Monks. The amount of Qi reflects their commitment. The Star Nosed Mole can distinguish the teams who perform exquisitely but have reached the elite level by luck from those who have taken a monastic approach.





  • Electro-location
    • As described above for the platypus, electro-reception is usually passive, relying on bioelectric fields generated by the nerves and muscles of other animals. But the Knife Fish measures distortions in electric fields that they themselves generate. This is called electro-location and has been found to be more useful and specific than sight as a measure of difficulty.
    • Some parts of some very difficult moves are more difficult to examine in detail. At the elite level, these nuances can change scores by 1 ten thousandths of a unit.
    • The knife-fish is capable of providing a real time, highly focussed assessment of these elite swimmers’ most difficult moves.
    • The knife-fish, in my opinion, is the most important member of this panel. The others appear to offer little more than nonsense. But then, I can attest to the tastiness of this Atlantic fish. It is a small boned, sweet tasting fish that has a fruity bouquet whilst warm and fresh, and delightfully peppery when uncooked and filleted. 




Other animals are taking on roles too


Announcer and Master of Ceremony


Score announcers have several challenges even when the sound system is fully operational. Firstly, many of the athletes' names are incorrectly pronounced by the announcers who often speak no more than several languages. Secondly, many of the spectators are deaf due to the incessant music that their younger swimmers are practice to.

The African Elephant addresses both problems through infrasonic announcements.

Infrasonic refers to sounds below 20 Hz, the threshold of normal human hearing. African elephants generate low-frequency calls to communicate up to 6 miles away. Even in noisy environments, the infrasonic names and scores can be sensed though the skeleton of hominids and hence understood and recalled easily.




Challenges faced by some animal judges


These numerous sensory systems may be damaged by the competition noises eg exposing them to man-made low-frequency sound, cause many judges’ whole bodies to vibrate and be damaged. Organs themselves sometimes have lesions or holes; even the associated nerve fibers suffer damage. As a result, the animals became disoriented. Some eventually die because they can’t eat. A good example is the vampire squid, bless her cotton socks RIP.





Conclusion


  • The sport of artistic swimming faces many challenges that can be overcome by offering elite judge positions to animals. 
  • FINA is a highly responsive, intellectually flexible governing syndicate for global swimmers.





✤ The odds are 8:1 on and AS gambling institutions will be accepting wagers in advance of the ruling. Uncontroversially, judges have been seeking approval for gambling dens to provide a more reliable source of income for the industry. Their personal interests have been discounted.



Acknowledgements
Public Health COVID-19 lockdown legislation

 References
Rare