Sensory Systems of Animals; Biology and Behavior

Perception in animals is a fascinating and challenging subject that calls to students from many disciplines. The aim of this book is to provide a knowledge base and unifying perspective on the field that will enable beginning researchers to chart their own course within it. The author describes, in a systematic but engaging way, the sensory systems of humans and other vertebrates, as well as arthropods and molluscs., Why is it important to understand the senses of animals? One reason is that human activities are changing the perceptual world of animals in ways that expose them to danger, such as bright outdoor lighting that disorients migrating birds, and human sonar that drives whales to beach themselves. Reducing such dangers will require changes in human behavior and greater understanding of how animals react, physiologically and behaviorally, to anthropogenic changes in their environment. The emphasis throughout the book is on research, in both the behavioral/ethological and neuroscientific traditions, that has led to important discoveries. The functional anatomy of each sensory system, from receptor cells to brain areas, is succinctly described, explaining how it underlies the animal’s sensory abilities and behavior. Overall descriptions of a sense for a class of animals (e.g., hearing in spiders) are interspersed with expanded coverage of that sense in a particular animal, such as the ogre-faced web-casting spider that does a backflip to capture an insect buzzing overhead. Evolutionary themes are found throughout the book, for example, in describing the evolutionary development of the vertebrate ear, and the convergent evolution of the eyes of vertebrates and cephalopods.