An Immense World audiobook cover - How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

An Immense World

How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Ed Yong

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Categories:
Nature & the Environment

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An Immense World
The Sensory Illusion+
Vision & Echolocation+
Smell & Taste+
Touch & Vibration+
Hidden Forces+
Empathy & Sensescapes+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 7
How do animals like Daphnia (water fleas) process visual information differently than sighted humans?
  • A. They use echolocation to supplement their limited color vision in dark environments.
  • B. They perceive a broader spectrum of colors and compare them to build highly detailed landscapes.
  • C. They interpret specific wavelengths of light as direct triggers for instinctual behaviors rather than building a visual landscape.
  • D. They rely entirely on ultraviolet light to locate food sources in murky water.
Question 2 of 7
According to the experiences of Daniel Kish, how does human echolocation compare to that of bats?
  • A. Human sonar operates at a lower frequency, making the resolution of objects somewhat blurry.
  • B. Humans can detect smaller, faster-moving objects like insects much better than bats can.
  • C. Human echolocation relies on sensing thermal radiation rather than sound waves.
  • D. Humans process echoes visually, whereas bats process them purely as auditory signals.
Question 3 of 7
What vulnerability arises from ants' intense reliance on pheromones for communication?
  • A. They lose their sense of smell completely when exposed to strong odors like peppermint.
  • B. They can be tricked into caring for the offspring of other species if those offspring mimic the right scent.
  • C. They are unable to locate food if the temperature drops and pheromones evaporate too quickly.
  • D. They often mistake their own colony members for predators and attack them.
Question 4 of 7
How do tick-trefoil treehoppers utilize their sense of touch and vibration?
  • A. They press their noses against tree bark to build a mental map of their surroundings.
  • B. They sense the bioelectric fields of leaves to determine which plants are safe to eat.
  • C. They vibrate the surface of leaves with their feet to communicate with others.
  • D. They detect the miniscule vibrations of approaching predators through the ground.
Question 5 of 7
Why do melanophila beetles rely on a highly sensitive ability to detect infrared radiation?
  • A. To regulate their cold-blooded body temperatures during the winter months.
  • B. To locate distant forest fires where they mate and lay their eggs on charred bark.
  • C. To detect the body heat of warm-blooded prey hiding in dense vegetation.
  • D. To navigate by sensing the thermal vents at the bottom of the ocean.
Question 6 of 7
What did Ken Lohmann's experiments with newly born loggerhead turtles reveal about their navigation?
  • A. They learn their migration routes by following older, more experienced turtles.
  • B. They rely on the scent of the ocean to guide them into deeper waters.
  • C. They use visual cues from the stars to navigate the ocean at night.
  • D. They possess an innate instinct to navigate using the earth's magnetic fields without prior experience.
Question 7 of 7
How do animals like sharks and rays utilize electroreception when hunting?
  • A. They generate massive electrical shocks to stun their prey before eating them.
  • B. They create an active electric field around their bodies and sense disturbances caused by other animals.
  • C. They detect the natural, small bioelectric fields created by living animals.
  • D. They use electrical pulses to communicate with other sharks to coordinate group hunting.

An Immense World — Full Chapter Overview

An Immense World Summary & Overview

An Immense World (2022) explores the sensory worlds of animals, highlighting how they differ from the human experience. Tracing sight, sound, touch, and more, it shares the various ways animals sense our world – and the extra information they glean with the help of their specialized senses.

Who Should Listen to An Immense World?

  • People interested in how animals make sense of their environment
  • Animal lovers
  • Anyone curious about the natural world

About the Author: Ed Yong

Ed Yong is a British science writer at the Atlantic. He’s written for numerous publications, received a Pulitzer Prize, and published two books: I Contain Multitudes and An Immense World.

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