Sniffs, scratches, sights and sounds: Ed Yong on how animals sense the world

Have you ever wondered why your dog takes such a long time to sniff a patch of grass? Or why flies buzz around so sporadically? It’s because most of what a creature actually senses is invisible to us. They perceive their world as differently as we perceive our own.

Pulitzer Prize winning science writer Ed Yong wrote a book about this called An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.

Join me for a fun conversation with Ed about the astonishing ways animals sense the world around us. From birds that navigate the open ocean by smell, to penguins that sense vibrations underground. By learning how animals perceive their world, it just might change the way we perceive them, and make us look at our own world a little differently.

Check out our episode about AI and Animal Communication: Digital Dr. Dolittle: decoding animal conversations with artificial intelligence.

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THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and Lucy Soucek, and edited by Jim Gates. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.

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