They can use this sense to detect prey buried about 0.5 m under the surface of sand. Other animals produce a more intense electrical field and can use it to communicate with each other. Many animals, especially birds, can detect the Earth's field and can use it for spatial orientation during migration. Many animals send out high intensity sound bursts and detect the echo that returns from objects in their environment. Bats can fly through a room that is criss-crossed with 0.3 mm diameter wires and dolphins can distinguish between a rubber ball and a ball with a BB embedded in it.
Moths are champions of the smelling contests.
Neurological mechanisms 1. Stimulus filtering Most organisms filter out most of the stimuli that they are exposed to and respond only to the important stimuli. In cases in which you were exposed to a constant stimulus, your sensory cells began to respond less and less. The response was strong when the stimulus was novel. I also mentioned a couple of examples in other organisms.