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Film info
Film summary
Animals share many of our senses, but can use them in very different ways. Snakes, bats and cheetahs have senses optimised for hunting and migrating in different environments.Key facts
- Different sensory systems are needed for different environments.
- Bats use their hearing to find food in a process called echolocation.
- Bears can smell honey from 3 miles away.
- Some animals, like migratory birds and turtles, have an extra sense that allows them to know which way is north.
Transcript
Different animals live in very different sensory worlds.
The way an animal sees, hears, smells or feels its surroundings can be entirely different from our own experience.
And some animals even have extra sensory systems that we don't have.
Vision
The cobra has two eyes just like us, but the light receptors in their eyes tire if what they are looking at doesn't move. This means a stationary object in front of them can become invisible.
That means the best form of defence against a cobra attack is to stay very, very still.
The vulture's vision differs in another way. The central part of their vision is magnified two and a half times, enabling them to pick out minute details from hundreds of metres in the air.
Hearing
Some animals use their hearing in a very different way to us. Bats use it to find their way around and to find food. This is called echolocation.
Echolocation
They produce sounds and then listen for these to echo back. The delay between the emission of a sound and the arrival of an echo indicates the distance of an object.
Smell
Our human sense of smell is very weak compared to some other animals.
Big snouts, with more smell receptors, can make a huge difference.
Bears can detect the smell of honey from over three miles away.
And bloodhounds' noses are so attuned to smells that they can track people days after they have walked by.
They can pick up the minute traces of body scent, which have seeped through the soles of our shoes.
Taste
We may love chocolates, sweets and sugar, but some animals don't even register these tastes.
Cats only eat meats and get most of their energy from fats and proteins, so they have no need for the sweet taste receptor.
Some animals even have extra senses that we don't have.
It's thought that some migratory birds and turtles have a magnetic sense.
Magnetic reception
It may act like a compass, telling them which way is north.
We may all share the same world, but it's a very different place, depending on the sensory organs you have to experience it with.
