Beyond Us

Do you ever feel so caught up in the nonsense of life that you start to feel that you’re living on autopilot? Or that the endless hamster wheel of “To-Dos” keeps you in a state of mind that is narrow and tedious? Reader, this is how I feel sometimes whilst unloading the dishwasher or making the bed.

What breaks me out of this magicless spell is the thought of nature. Thinking of an orange sunset or the forested trail in Riverside Park pierces even my most sour and uninspired moods. I think this is because imagining nature transports me beyond myself. And the most mind-boggling part of this is, as beautiful as planet Earth is, our human senses only pick up a fraction of its glory!

Looking to our animal brothers and sisters can help us appreciate the earthly delights beyond the scope of our human senses. For example, …

Sight

Did you know that birds can see many more colors than us mortals can? That’s right, birds humble us with their ability to see ultraviolet wavelengths invisible to the human eye. Most strikingly, birds’ plumage is adorned with dazzling colors nonexistent to our retinas. Imagine bird-watching from a bird’s eye view!

Smell

Did you know that dogs can detect certain cancers via scent? As nuts as it may sound, a 2004 study conducted in England confirmed this to be so. In that study, a Cocker Spaniel was most adept at sniffing out cancer. What’s more, certain breeds’ unique physical appearances help them smell the world. For example, the Bassett Hound’s long ears stir scents towards its nostrils, and the wrinkled skin on its face aids it in retaining aromas within the crevices. This knowledge can move us to marvel at the care and intelligence that nature invested in our furry friends’ features.

Taste

Imagine how mouth-wateringly delicious a homemade plum tomato, mozzarella pizza would be at this moment? Each bite would tickle your approximately 10,000 taste buds. However, the human capacity to taste pales in comparison to catfish, who have up to 175,000 taste buds. Unlike us humans, catfish could probably taste a squeeze of lemon in an Olympic size pool!

Touch

Have you ever thought about the evolutionary purpose of hair? Manatees, large yet gentle marine animals, are covered with hypersensitive hairs that help them navigate dark aquatic environments. Since manatees have poor vision, their whiskers allow them to sense changing environments. Pretty cool, huh?

Hearing

As manatees use their sense of touch to assist in navigating, bats use sound navigation to wind their way through the world. Bats know how to make a special sound that bounces off objects and communicates that object’s size, shape, and texture. This allows bats to fulfill tasks as versatile as hunting for prey to navigating through the darkness. To put this into perspective, while the human ear can detect about 20Hz-20KHz, bats’ noises can range from 9 kHz-200 kHz.

Sixth Sense

Studies are finding that many creatures (quite possibly including humans!) possess an ability to detect the Earth’s electromagnetic field. For example, researchers believe that part of how migratory birds chart their way is through magnetic clues. Fish, frogs, turtles, bees, and many other animals are also thought to respond to electromagnetic stimuli. Perhaps on a subconscious level, we humans are also attuned to these fields.

Our Special Gifts

Exalting the abilities of our animal kin is not minimize our special gifts. For example, the miracle of the human spine affords us the ability to walk upright and use our hands for many tasks. Our skin is waterproof and allows us to cool off through sweating. Most extraordinary, our developed brains grant us a breathtaking capacity for complex, higher-level thinking.

And yet, let us not forget that our miraculous brains do not entirely remove us from the animal kingdom. To this end, our destinies are interwoven with the fate of all that exists. Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an escapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be... This is the inter-related structure of reality.” I like to expand this quote to encapsulate all life, meaning that we should treat the world and all that exists as kindly as we can. For if we do not, the plastics in the ocean, the ebbing forests, and the environmental toxins will not only harm the natural world, but these things will also come back to bite our behinds, too.

Closing Thoughts

Knowing that the world’s vibrancy and fullness are not fully detectable to us, it seems impossible to gaze at the world with anything but reverence, awe, and humility. Though we may never have all the answers, perhaps we can collectively rest on the notion that all creatures are held by a greater intelligence that shaped us all.