In his new book, An Immense World, science writer Ed Yong explores the diversity of perception in the animal world — including echolocation, magnetic fields and ultraviolet vision.
uses the example of a dark room: Though it might seem that there would be little to detect in the darkness, a bird in the room would be able to pick up on the magnetic field of the earth and would know which direction to fly if it was time to migrate. A dog would be sniffing out various odors that a human would not be able to smell. A rattlesnake would detect the presence of humans in the room by sensing their infrared radiation.
Yong points out that humans can't sense the faint electric fields that sharks and platypuses can, or the magnetic fields that robins and sea turtles detect. Our ears can't hear the ultrasonic call of rodents and hummingbirds, and our eyes can't see the ultraviolet light that the birds and the bees can sense. But, he says, imagining the world as animals perceive it opens up a new appreciation for the everyday wonders of nature.
Bats and dolphins are the two masters of echolocation in the animal kingdom, and in some ways they use it for similar purposes. But the difference between them is mostly because dolphins are echolocating in the water. Their calls travel much further. And so for them, echolocation is a much longer-range sense than it is for bats, which can only really detect a small moth within several feet in front of [them.] A dolphin's echolocation can ...
The light shines vertically into the heavens. It is beautiful. As an art installation, that's magnificent. But for migrating birds, it is a huge problem. The light draws them in, causes them to circle for a long time, depletes their energy, often distracts them and sends them hurtling into nearby buildings. Thousands of birds might be caught in these beams at any one time. If you're a migrating bird, you can't afford to get distracted.
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