Pulitzer prize-winning author Ed Yong came to campus last Thursday, Feb. 6 to talk about his book, “An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us.” This and Yong’s other works have won multiple awards and are New York Times best sellers.
“Personally, I became a fan of Yong’s work through his truly… creative reporting on COVID long haulers through the Atlantic… So, when I learned that his new book was actually about animals and sense perception, I was struck both by what looked like another stark total shift in his career, but I was also curious,” Professor Hosanna Krienke said while introducing Yong. She also explained that the Honors College freshman spent time with Yong’s work, which is why both she and the Dean of the Honors College, Peter Parolin, were excited that Yong was presenting here on campus.
Yong started his presentation by showing pictures of his dog, a corgi named Typo, saying that he has started to take him on what he calls “sniff walks,” where the only goal is to let Typo sniff around the neighborhood.
“Even though you might be sharing the same physical space… our experience of the world around us… we each exist in our own little sensory bubble,” Yong said. “Each of us has this partial sliver of the world that we are privy to. I think this is one of the most beautiful concepts of biology because firstly, it is very humbling. We might think that we have a complete understanding of the world around us… but that feeling is an illusion and it is one that all creatures share.”
Yong then went on to note several interesting animal facts, such as snakes using infrared, sea turtles and birds having internal compasses, and bugs seeing UV light. He emphasized that humans have a very limited view of the world, as we are held back by the bounds of our senses. We can never see the world, or even fully imagine the world, the same way a bird can. They have four single-cone photoreceptors for color in their eyes while we only have three. That means there are possibly hundreds of colors that are not visible to us but are obvious to birds. On top of their tetrachromatic color vision, birds also have a fifth double cone dedicated to perceiving motion.
Humans can have tetrachromacy, but it is an extremely rare mutation and very difficult to test for. Even though most humans will never be able to experience the world the same way as an animal, and research can only show us so much, Yong posits, “there is purpose and meaning in the attempt… It is very easy to think of senses as passive things. You are sitting there, light is going into your eyes, my voice is going into your ears, smell is going into your nose. You’re not doing very much, but you’re still perceiving and sensing the world. But… by sensing the world, we also change it.”
“I love that he takes his dogs on sniff walks,” Professor Kate Northrop said after the presentation concluded. “Believing in your dog’s needs and acting on your dog’s needs… I love my dog, but I never thought, “Oh this is really important to them, this is their way of experiencing the world, I should schedule a bit more time and let them just smell.”
A group of students from Northrop’s HP 3135: Writing Animals course gathered at the Cooper Carriage House to discuss their thoughts on the talk. They reflected on how the lecture made them feel and how they related to it in their lives.
“For my animal biology class, they required us to submit two animal observations a week, and it really changed your perspective, seeing how many animals are actually around all the time,” Rhiannon Hammond, a UW senior and Physiology major, said.
“It’s the kind of talk that I don’t know what to do with myself afterwards,” Northrop said. This was a common sentiment among the group of students, who were all left feeling changed by the lecture but unable to describe how.
Ed Yong’s lecture opened the minds of the audience to a universe beyond the one we are familiar with. By analyzing the senses of animals, we can connect more purposefully with the natural world that surrounds us. Everyday perceptions can take on a deeper meaning when we think about how other creatures experience them.
Yong’s book “An Immense World” is available for purchase at the University Bookstore for any who wish to dive further into the exciting topic of animal senses.
