Our fellow biological beings provide limitless rich and diverse ways of experiencing the world around us. Anyone who has experienced bringing a dog to a field, watching them run and sniff and interact with nature knows that just being there alone would not be anywhere near as enjoyable. And watching several dogs playing together can be transcendent.
The enthusiasm and delight they evoke can be so contagious it can shift our minds away from the everyday concerns that normally dominate our thoughts and focus our attention directly to the moment. To replace burdensome thoughts with a vicarious sense of happiness and playfulness, even if only for a moment, is uplifting and refreshing.
And as we watch a dog connect with the environment we also become more deeply connected to our surroundings through them. When we encounter animals in their natural environment not only are we enjoying seeing the animal but we are also being satisfyingly connected to the environment.
Many non-domesticated animals have unique ways of experiencing the world. Some like eagles, hawks, and falcons can see in much sharper resolution. Some like the mantis shrimp perceive a wider range of color and are sensitive to UV rays and polarized light. Other animals enjoy a wider range and more acute sense of hearing like the greater wax moth which can hear frequencies up to 300kHz — 15 times the frequency that humans can perceive. Some creatures, like the African Elephant possess a sense of smell more sensitive than humans by several orders of magnitude, and still others like spiders have a far more sensitive sense of touch.
In addition to animals which possess sensory systems resembling our own but are much more sensitive, there are also animals possessing sensory abilities which, outside of our human created technological enhancements, are completely foreign to humans.
These include electroreception in Platypuses. To locate objects in extremely deep and dark waters Platypuses can pick up very low level electrical impulses that their prey generate. Bats, whales, dolphins, and other animals use echo location to navigate and hunt and to identify other species. Certain species of birds can detect the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation — magnetoreception.
Using their capacity for infrared radiation detection snakes can create a ‘thermal image’ of predators or prey. Octopuses and other cephalopods can navigate, find habitats, communicate and engage in courtship using their highly developed perception of light polarization.
Catfish use ultra-sensitive chemoreceptor cells to taste their way through the world as they can compare variances in the concentration of chemical signatures of the objects they encounter which they sense through their bodies. Catfish use taste to find food, to interact socially, to detect danger, and to communicate sexually.
Jewel Beetles have been called living fire detectors. Through a pair of infrared receptors they can detect a burning tree 50 miles away. They go to forest fires to quickly to their lay eggs in the smoldering bark of burnt trees as this gives their larvae an opportunity to mature without competition.