Into the Illusive World: An Exploration of Animals’ Perception

Description

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. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 What’s Mine Is Mine and What’s Yours Is Yours (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 3-15 Front Matter ....Pages 17-17 Eyes as Windows to the Soul (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 19-26 The Pollinator’s Garden (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 27-31 Finding the Way Home (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 33-40 I Can See for Miles and Miles and Miles (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 41-48 Peering into the Darkness (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 49-54 Technicolor Dreamcoats (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 55-61 The Eye as a Window to the World (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 63-64 Front Matter ....Pages 65-65 The Music of Nature (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 67-70 All About the Bass (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 71-78 The Sound of Fear (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 79-84 Sound Beneath the Waves (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 85-93 The Lover’s Voice (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 95-100 The Power of Sound (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 101-102 Front Matter ....Pages 103-103 The Smell of Warm Bread (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 105-112 This Is Not My House (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 113-118 Better Lies Through Chemistry (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 119-124 Can’t We All Just Get Along? (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 125-131 Social Resume (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 133-139 The Emotion of Chemicals (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 141-142 Front Matter ....Pages 143-143 Putting Your Best Foot Forward (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 145-150 The Sweet Taste of Life (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 151-157 More Than a Feeling (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 159-164 At Death’s Door (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 165-171 A Different Chemical View (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 173-179 The Gustatory World (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 181-182 Front Matter ....Pages 183-183 Picking Up Good Vibrations (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 185-191 Coordinating the Team (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 193-199 The Rhythm of the Bass (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 201-206 The Rhythm of the Dance (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 207-212 Tapping into Love (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 213-219 The Sensible Reverberations (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 221-222 Front Matter ....Pages 223-223 The Diverse World (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 225-230 The Pull of Home (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 231-238 Warmth of the Season (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 239-245 I Go to Die, You to Live (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 247-253 A Shocking Discovery (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 255-261 Chasing Ghosts (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 263-269 The Uncharted World (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 271-272 Front Matter ....Pages 273-273 The Illusive World (Paul A. Moore)....Pages 275-281 Back Matter ....Pages 283-292