Many animals experience a different version of the world than we do, because they sense stimuli that escape us, such as electrical impulses, magnetic fields or light outside the range we call visible.
This does not detract from the fact that humans are endowed with an excellent array of bodily senses, all powerful and finely tuned.
But if we consider each sense separately, few other species are great champions of sensory perception.
Humans enjoy one of nature’s most versatile senses of vision, thanks to the four types of photoreceptors in our retina: the rods are highly sensitive to light, giving us reasonable night vision, even in black and white; we also have three different types of cones, which divide the wavelengths of visible light: red, yellow-green and blue.
Cones are less sensitive than rods, but allow us to appreciate color.
In short, human vision is the best among mammals and one of the best in the entire animal kingdom, encompassing between 1 and 10 million colors.
The record for the number of photoreceptors in the animal world is held by the common bluebottle butterfly (Graphium sarpedon), with 15 different types, and by the peacock mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus), an Indian Ocean crustacean with between 12 and 16.
The record number of photoreceptors in the animal world is held by the common blue bottle butterfly, with 15 different types.
Vision is not limited to photoreceptor assemblies.
The vision of birds is better than ours, and in acuteness of vision the prize is given to the eagle, which surpasses us by four or five times.
Like all birds, their color perception is excellent, and their field of vision covers up to 340 degrees compared to our 180.
Although other species do not match this record, they have vision uniquely adapted to their way of life: the vertical slit pupils of cats and other predators offer a range of dilation and contraction more than 10 times greater than ours, suitable for alternating between days. and night.
Owls have large eyes with stalk density five times greater than ours, giving them the best night vision in the animal kingdom.
Animals with good night vision often have mirrors in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum, which increases the amount of light reaching the retina (and makes their eyes glow at night); sharks use this to see 10 times better than we do in the water.
Humans also have a fairly good sense of hearing compared to other animals, but there is a whole world of sounds beyond our audible range (between about 20 and 20,000 hertz).
Animals specialized in ultrasound hearing—such as dolphins or bats, both gifted with echolocation—can reach frequencies of up to 100,000 hertz.
But the absolute known record is held by a humbler animal, the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella); its hypersensitive hearing, which can reach up to 300,000 hertz, is used to escape from bats.
According to the study that discovered this ability, the butterfly is “prepared and armed for any adaptation of echolocation calls made by bats in the ongoing bat evolutionary war.”
The wax moth (Galleria mellonella) has hypersensitive hearing, which can reach up to 300,000 hertz used to escape from bats.
Conversely, animals most sensitive to ultrasound often have difficulty hearing at the lowest frequencies.
There are infrasound specialists such as elephants, whose sounds of up to 1 hertz help them stay in touch at distances up to 10 kilometers away, as they can detect these vibrations through their feet.
Domestic pigeons may hear lower frequencies.
But neither of these animals can reach our higher frequencies.
If we’re looking for animals that outperform us at low and high frequencies, some cetaceans are good candidates: blue whales can hear from 7 to 35,000 hertz; lower frequencies allow them to communicate over long distances in the ocean.Â
The human ability to taste is limited to the tongue, which houses our taste buds.
This is one option, but there are others; Catfish have taste receptors spread all over their body—though more concentrated on their chins or whiskers around their mouths—allowing them to find prey in the muddy, murky waters where they live.
Compared to our 10,000 taste receptors, the largest catfish can have as many as 175,000.Â
Catfish can have as many as 175,000 taste receptors spread throughout their body, although more concentrated in their chins around their mouths.
Many insects have taste receptors on the hairs that cover their bodies: flies use the hairs on their legs to trigger their proboscis automatically once they land and detect food.
The size of our odorant receptor gene repertoire ranks 13th among species analyzed in one study.
We also outperform dogs in detecting certain odors, such as those found in bananas, urine or human blood.
It is often said that their sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than ours.
Dogs can follow scent trails for kilometers the same way we can follow lines on the ground.
“Dogs are generally considered good smellers, but they lack a large number of olfactory receptor genes,” according to Yoshihito Niimura, co-author of the comparative study.
With 1,948 receptor genes, the elephant‘s trunk has an extraordinary nose so this animal continues to explore the world through smell.
According to the US National Park Service (NPS), black bears have nasal mucosa 100 times larger than ours, and their sense of smell is seven times that of a beagle.
It can smell food from several kilometers away.
“With 300 to 500 bears roaming Yosemite at any given time, chances are at least one of them is sniffing you at all times,” the NPS says.
But even the bear is no match for the elephant, the undisputed champion of smell.
With 1,948 receptor genes, it is more than twice as many as 811 dogs.
Niimura points out that their agile trunks, extraordinary noses, also function as hands, so these animals continue to explore the world through smell.
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) deserves special attention: not only is this animal the recognized record holder for the sense of touch, with its peculiar nasal appendage filled with mechanoreceptors that give it six times the sensitivity of the human hand, a sensitive area, but it can also smell underwater food.
Common moles smell stereo, with their two nostrils acting independently.
The star-nosed mole’s nasal appendages give it six times the sensitivity of a human hand and even allow it to smell food underwater.
In short, there is much to admire in animal senses, and much more to discover.
John McGann, an academic researcher from Rutgers University, states that humans are unique in one sense, that smells “can evoke strong emotional and behavioral reactions and trigger different memories.” Only one man, by the name of Marcel Proust, could write more than 3,000 pages from the sight, touch, smell and taste of a madeleine cake.
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