Into the Illusive World, 1st ed. 2019 An Exploration of Animals’ Perception

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.

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 Science of a Touching Reply

28    Coordinating the Team

28.1 Someone Gently Rapping

28.2 The Science of the Excavating Call

29    The Rhythm of the Bass

29.1 Shaken, not Stirred

29.2 The Science of Hips Don’t Lie

30    The Rhythm of the Dance

30.1 Shaken, not Stirred

30.2 The Science of Hips Don’t Lie

31    Tapping into Love

31.1 Going Bananas

31.2 The Science of Vibrating Leaves

32    The Sensible Reverberations

Section VII Other Senses

33    The Diverse World

33.1 Magnetic Fields

33.2 Infrared Energy

33.3 Electrical Signals

33.4 A Rose by any Other Name

34    The Pull of Home

34.1 Guidance by an Invisible Hand

34.2 The Science of Animal Magnetism

35    Warmth of the Season

35.1 In the Heat of the Night

35.2 The Science of Thermal Vision

36    I go to Die, You to Live

36.1 Finding a Romantic Fire

36.2 The Science of Tracking the Heat

37    A Shocking Discovery

37.1 An Electric Soul

37.2 The Science of Sensing Electricity

38    Chasing Ghosts

38.1 Fleeting Curls of Water

38.2 The Science of Tracking the Heat

39    The Uncharted World

Section VIII The Illusive World

40    The Illusive World

40.1 What is Reality?

40.2 Walk a Mile in Someone’s…Brain?

40.3 To Be or Not To Be

40.4 One Final Plea

Further Readings

Index

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.

Explores the broad range of stimuli undetectable to humans

Wonderful and exciting stories of organisms using their senses to perform sophisticated tasks

A journey into the illusive world and see how different the world is when perceived through another animal’s senses