NOVA
NOVA
Inside Animal Minds: Dogs & Super Senses 41 Season 18 Episode
What is it like to be a dog, a shark, or a bird? Long the subject of human daydreams, this question is now getting serious attention from scientists who study animal senses. The senses define our experience of the worldโthey shape our minds, and help make us what we are. Humans rely on smell, sight, taste, touch, and sound, but other animals have super-powered versions of these senses, and a few, like electrically-sensitive sharks, even have extra senses we donโt have at all. From a dog who seems to use smell to tell time, to a dolphin who can "see" with his ears, we will discover how animals use their senses in ways we humans can barely imagine. But itโs not just the senses that are remarkableโit's the brains that process them. How does a swallowโs tiny, one-gram brain take in the flood of visual information that enables the bird to whiz within inches of buildings while flying at 40 miles per hour? How does a dogโs mind turn the sight of a hand signal into the happy anticipation of a treat? How has the evolution of the dogโfrom its wolf ancestorsโreshaped its brain? NOVA goes into the minds of animals to โseeโ the world in an entirely new way.
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