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I always felt that God, being the supreme being and all, has more senses than we do. That way He can do more cool stuff like 'create'.
Really Nj? I did not know that . Thank you for a thoughtful and very informative answer. I did not think of the abilities other animals have that humans don't. I guess all animals are wondrous and mysterious creatures! Thank you for your answer! :)
Thank you for your reply bh and Happy Saturday.
Excellent point Nj. I never thought of it that way. Other animals are sufficient unto themselves. I guess some of them attack and kill and eat one another. I can't watch wildlife film depicting that. I know it's natural/nature but still it's not my cuppa tea. We are not self-sufficient at all. We depend upon/rely on animals for food and clothing and to carry us and other things as a means of transportation. We bet on horses whom we force to race. I don't know if that is essential to our survival and I don't know who came up with the idea in the first place. I also don't know who was the first human to open a zoo where other animals are caged and placed on view for humans to enjoy. Maybe one day I'll find that out. Turnabout is fair play. Maybe one day humans will be caged. I hope they won't be used for food or clothing though! Thank you for your reply Nj! :)
You certainly have given me "food for thought" so to speak Nj. I think the Zoroasters are the ones who take the bodies of their dead up high into the mountains and let them be eaten by birds, etc. At least I think I read that somewhere long ago. That horrifies me but the point is as you described. There is a cycle to nature and recyling dead bodies to provide food for living things is part of that cycle. I still feel kinda creepy about it but I do see the benefit in it. Thank you for your thoughtful reply! :)
I don't watch horror movies Nj. I don't watch wildlife documentaries where animals are consuming other animals. I don't watch slasher movies. By choice. I find them horrifying. There is a channel that features operations or used to. Some folks were fascinated by watching the various episodes. Not my cuppa tea. I do not wish to see and remember flesh being cut into and blood spurting out. For any reason. It is just how I am wired. I don't see scary movies either. Years ago my then-best friend Patricia told me not to see Psycho. I believed her and never saw it. I have unfortunately seen a clip where the chair with mummy dearest turns around and you see mummy dearest. That visual is etched in my mind. I could have done without it. As a child I would get nightmares when I saw scary movies. So I made a conscious decision to avoid them if I could. I don't like to be horriifed or frightened or disgusted or grossed out. That happens often enough in life when I have no control. When I am in control I choose what works best for me. Jim is worse than I am. I can take a movie with a sad ending or one that is bittersweet or wistful. He can't. He likes movies with happy endings. He is 80 years old and that is what he prefers. Different strokes! :) Thank you for your reply Nj! :)
Yes, humans have five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Granted, some animals have keener night vision, more sensitive smell, or more acute hearing, but man’s balance of these senses certainly allows him to excel in many ways. We as humans definitely benefit from these abilities and capacities. Because all of them depend on the three-pound [1.4 kg] organ inside our head—our brain. Animals have functioning brains. Still, the human brain is in a class by itself, making us undeniably unique. Unlike animals, who mainly live and act on present needs, humans can contemplate the past and plan for the future. A key to your doing that is the brain’s almost limitless memory capacity. True, animals have a degree of memory, and thus they can find their way back home or recall where food may be. Human memory is far greater.
Thank you for a very thoughtful and informative reply ANP. I appreciate it! :) As I age what I fear most is losing my memory. After all that is the sum total of my identity. All encapsulated in my memories. Without them who am I?
[This b****y system! This comment is meant to be under Nice jug's reply on Sept 10, and I selected "Reply" there, but AM plonked it down here!
Anyway...
With respect, just to correct one point Nice jugs made: bats do not use "radar", but sonar somewhat similarly to dolphins. Radar, as the acronym shows, uses radio.
Answering the question itself, directly, yes, most animals have the same senses as us, but the characteristics of those senses differ from genus to genus if not species to species.
So the sensations will differ. For example, many animals are colour-blind, sometimes sacrificing colour sensitivity for greater acuity (details at distance) or light-level sensitivity (as in nocturnal creatures).
Others have considerably greater senses of smell, as we know of dogs. Or they have a sense of smell that is extremely finely tuned to a very few odours at very low intensities - insects like moths and mosquitoes are experts at this.
Although not one of the Five Senses, speech is worth a mention. let's contrast the voice in two very different creatures...
The human power of speech is several orders of magnitude greater in complexity than that of any other animal; but the bat's echo-locating calls have characteristics we cannot possibly match, including intensity, frequency and call rate. Some bat's echo-locating calls are far louder than we can manage with our much larger lungs and larynx, and it can call many times a second, much faster than we can speak - but the bat's power is much lower than ours and its useful call range when hunting insects is only a few metres, reduced also by the physics of sound in air.
In essence, all the vertebrate animals' bodies work in much the same way, but each species has its senses attuned to its own needs and way of life.
Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and extremely informative reply Durdle. It is very helpful to me and others as well I'm sure! :)
I've been having problems with it too and asked a question about it this morning Durdle. I feel your pain! :(