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Discussion » Questions » Animals (Wild) » Five senses. Humans and other animals have them. Are they experienced the same for all who have them or not? If different, in what way(s)?

Five senses. Humans and other animals have them. Are they experienced the same for all who have them or not? If different, in what way(s)?

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Posted - September 9, 2016

Responses


  • 6988

     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'. 

      September 9, 2016 1:53 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    Some say humans have as many as 21 different senses Rosie....as Sharks have electronic sensors in their bodies to detect thier prey... Bats fly using radar ...Dolphins use sonar to hunt and stun their prey....the list for other creatures must also be endless given thier are millions af differen life forms in the world....even weird types fungus has the ability to think.....:)
      September 9, 2016 10:07 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    My mum creates merry hell when we use to play up.....now she just does it when my dad misbehaves....she was also pretty amazing at creating six kids.....with a little bit of help from my dad of course..... :)
      September 9, 2016 10:10 PM MDT
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  • 113301

    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! :)

      September 10, 2016 2:09 AM MDT
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  • 113301

    Thank you for your reply bh and Happy Saturday.

      September 10, 2016 2:10 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    I think being earths top predator deceives us slightly Rosie.....unlike most creatures we need clothing to survive ,most all other living things in nature has the ability to live and survive with just what they are born with.....plus they don't destroy the planet like us....
      September 10, 2016 3:31 AM MDT
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  • 113301

    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!  :)

      September 10, 2016 3:48 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    Every thing including humanity is eaten or processed into organic matter for plant food in one way or another Rosie..... When we die and are buried.....Bactria,fungus and insects consume our bodies in one way or another....it's just natures way of processing unwanted waste....were are all but water and minerals....
    Even when cremated there is something that consumes our ashes as carbon or nitrates ....
    Nothing's wasted in nature....just efficiently recycled....

    In Napal....cadavers are taken high up into the mountains and some guy breaks them open so as Vulturs can feed on and dispose of the bodies and that stops infections getting passed on to other living things....

    Zoos are in the fact that they cage animals....but I do think there are needed in some ways to help preserve certain species.....

    I think even horrific viruses are needed to cull the human population when it gets out of hand and over populate the planet.....
    There is nothing more powerful than nature....when ever it decides to kick off ....mankind can only with for it to stop and then try to pick up the peices.....
      September 10, 2016 9:11 AM MDT
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  • 113301

    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! :)

      September 11, 2016 1:41 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    I don't see why it should horrify you Rosie.....you see it every day of your life.....it's just rarely spoken of.....more so whe you were a child,certain things were veiwed as taboo subject to talk about in front of kids.....
    I've also had the privalidge form a very young age to have viewed program's on tv like Richard Attendourgh shows that show every part of nature from birth to animals killing for food in the wild.....my parents also explains fully about the dangers of wild animals and what life is about...
    As a family we had another bonus of not being dumbed down by religion....we were free of such things to think about things in life and see them for what they really are.....
    How ever you die....something in some way is going to eat you....most likely Bactria ....if it didn't happen ,we would be six feet deep in the dead bodies of all the different living thing from vegetation ,animals and all their waste products.....lol
      September 11, 2016 2:39 AM MDT
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  • 113301

    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! :)

      September 11, 2016 3:36 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    I don't watch horror movies of any kind Rosie....I to don't want images like that in my head....
    I don't like war films of any kind but what I like is what I view to be factual... I liked very much the film Saving Private Ryan..... It depicted the horrors of way and I thoght was quite realistic.....there were so many sceanes that effected me emotionally ....but still felt compelled to watch the whole film.....

    There is a old b/w film called the Rape of Nanking .....it's a war film about what the Japanese did to Nanking in 1937-38...... The Japanese slaughtered every living thing in the city and was the most horrific film I have ever watched.....it was more a documentary type film ,but also compulsive viewing.... Why they were never prosecuted for their war crimes I will never know.....

    Not so long ago in England....they had live coverage before audiences of autopsies being carried out on cadavers.....
    Who would want to watch such things on live TV is beyond me...

    I find disgusting films and tv shows like the A Team....Action films where people are shot a thousand times and there is no blood or gore and they don't move after....people also get blown up with explosives and they are still in one peice....

    We were never allowed to watch scary ,violent,horror films as kids....from what I know ,none of my brothers or sisters watch films like that now.....

    I do think we have a duty to see how animals are kept and killed so as to make informed decission on what we eat and where we buy what we eat....
      September 11, 2016 10:55 AM MDT
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  • 12

    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.

      September 20, 2016 3:56 PM MDT
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  • 113301

    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?

      September 21, 2016 2:22 AM MDT
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  • 3719

    [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.

      September 22, 2016 3:51 PM MDT
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  • 3719

    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.

      September 22, 2016 4:12 PM MDT
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  • 113301

    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! :)

      September 23, 2016 3:55 AM MDT
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  • 113301

    I've been having problems with it too and asked a question about it this morning Durdle. I feel your pain!  :(

      September 23, 2016 3:56 AM MDT
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  • 3719

     

      September 23, 2016 4:18 AM MDT
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