Catfish taste with their whole bodies - and that’s just one way animals sense the world totally differently than us. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► null Up Next ► Mixing human + animal DNA and the future of gene editing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjDcuWTu5qs Every animal has its own thin slice of the fullness of reality that it can detect, known as "umwelt." Even though we all inhabit the same planet, each species experiences it very differently. No animal can sense everything. There is so much sensory information in the world, that detecting all of it would be overwhelming. It's also unnecessary for survival. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/explain-it-like-im-smart/animal-senses/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Ed Yong: Ed Yong is a Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer on the staff of The Atlantic, where he also won the George Polk Award for science reporting, among other honors. His first book, I Contain Multitudes, was a New York Times bestseller and won numerous awards. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Wired, The New York Times, Scientific American, and more. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Liz Neeley, and their corgi, Typo. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read more of our stories on animals and animal senses: Animal magnetism: Bacteria may help creatures sense Earth’s magnetic fields ► https://bigthink.com/health/magnetic-navigation-bacteria/ The scent of sickness: 5 questions answered about using dogs – and mice and ferrets – to detect disease ► https://bigthink.com/health/medical-detection-dogs-covid-19/ Exotic animals and their strange relationship with ancient Greeks and Romans ► https://bigthink.com/the-past/exotic-animals-greece-rome/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ► Big Think+ Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Want more Big Think? ► Daily editorial features: https://bigthink.com/popular/ ► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: https://bigthink.com/st/newsletter ► Facebook: https://bigth.ink/facebook ► Instagram: https://bigth.ink/Instagram ► Twitter: https://bigth.ink/twitter