Have you ever thought about what a dog smells as it stops to sniff at a tree? Or what a cat is watching as it stares intensely off into space? What about animals in the wild? What do they see, hear, smell, and feel? How do they perceive their surroundings? This is the illusive world. A world filled with fascinating stimuli that we are not equipped to detect. This is particularly true because we tend to rely so heavily on our eyes or ears.
We are figuratively, and literally, blind to this part of the natural world. This part, which is full of stimuli we cannot perceive, encompasses the daily lives of so many animals. Beneath our feet are ants, moles, and spiders using vibrations to coordinate colonies and communicate danger. In the oceans, turtles, fish, and octopi are sensitive to magnetic and electric fields, as well as tasty morsels at the tips of their tentacles. In the skies, owls and raptors can see deep into a lake or pierce the night with highly sensitive eyes. This book brings together all these animals and their amazing sensory abilities in an exploration of how animals perceive their world.
Within these pages are wonderful and exciting stories of organisms using their senses to perform sophisticated communication with nestmates, find hidden prey in the dark of night or murky of depths, and call to lovers both near and far. This book will open the door to this illusive world and will take you on a journey into the illusive world and see how different the world is when perceived through another animal's senses.
Autorentext
Dr. Paul A. Moore (Ph.D. Boston University) has spent almost thirty years researching the sensory abilities of different animals as the founder of the Laboratory for Sensory Ecology at Bowling Green State University. Working with terrestrial, aquatic, and marine animals, Dr. Moore's research has appeared in over 100 peer-reviewed articles, on Australian TV, radio, and in his first book The Hidden Power of Smell. He spends most of his summers in the field working on the organisms that live in the lakes, rivers, and streams of Northern Michigan.
Inhalt
Section I The Sensuous World
1 What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours
1.1 The Sensuous World
1.2 The Mind's Eye
1.3 The Illusive World
1.4 What Really is Reality?
Section II Vision
2 Eyes as windows to the soul
2.1 Double Vision
2.2 The Science of the Four-Eyed Fish
3 The Pollinator's Garden
3.1 On the Hunt for Nectar
3.2 The Science of the Bee's Flowery Vision
4 Finding the Way Home
4.1 You Can Go Back Home Again
4.2 The Science of Seeing the Unseen
5 I Can See for Miles and Miles and Miles
5.1 I Spy with My Little Eye Something
5.2 The Science of Precision Talon Strikes
6 Peering into the Darkness
6.1 Seeing in the Absence of Light
6.2 The Science of Nighttime Vision
7 Technicolor Dreamcoats
7.1 The Different Hues of Aggression
7.2 The Science of Multicolor Worlds
8 The Eye as a Window to the World
Section III Audition
9 The Music of Nature
10 All About the Bass
10.1 Hearing the Earth Move Under Your Feet
10.2 The Science of the Distance Rumble of Words
11 The Sound of Fear
11.1 The Song of the Flying Tigers
10.2 The Science of Jamming and Diving
12 Sound Beneath the Waves
12.1 The Keith Moon of the Deep
12.2 The Science of the Fishy Sound
13 The Lover's Voice
13.1 Kiss the Girl
10.2 The Science of Singing Silly Love Songs
14 The Power of Sound
Section IV Olfaction
15 The Smell of Warm Bread
15.1 Long Distance Relationship
15.2 The Science of Tracing the Call of Love
16 This is Not My House
16.1 Following the Ribbon of Odor
16.2 The Science of Recognizing Home
17 Better Lies through Chemistry
17.1 When We First Practice to Deceive
17.2 The Science of Making Chemical Cocktails
18 Can't We All Just Get Along
18.1 The Secret Handshake
18.2 The Science of a Coat of Arms
19 Social Resume
19.1 Fighting by Molecular Means
19.2 The Science of a Chemical History
20 The Emotions of Chemicals
Section V Gustation
21 Putting Your Best Foot Forward
21.1 The Walk of Life
21.2 The Science of Tasting with Your Feet
22 The Sweet Taste of Life
22.1 Searching the Dark for Food
22.2 The Science of Tasting with Your Body
23 More than a Feeling
23.1 A Sucker for Good Food
23.2 The Science of Tasting with Tentacles
24 At Death's Door
24.1 A Gut Feeling
24.2 The Science of Internal Taste
25 A Different Chemical View
25.1 Smelling with a Fork
25.2 The Science of Tracking with Tongues
26 The Gustatory World
Section VI Tactile
27 Picking up Good Vibrations
27.1 There Came a Tapping
27.2 The...