Making sense of animal senses
In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. Springer Nature. ISSN 2397-334X, meer
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| Abstract |
Our senses define our reality; they are the window through which we perceive just a small part of a vast and complex physical environment. Our perceptual world differs in unimaginable ways from the perceptual worlds of the millions of other animals with which we share the same physical reality. Trees of green and roses of red are not part of the wonderful world of a tick, which does not sense colour, but instead senses body heat and odors emanating from skin. This perceptual world was coined ‘umwelt’ (from the German word for environment or surroundings) by Baltic–German zoologist Jakob von Uexküll in 1909. In a new popular science book, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Ed Yong uses the concept of umwelt as a uniting theme, and takes us on a journey into the sensory worlds of animals. |
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