Don't miss... 9pm BBC2
Humans have a range of senses that are truly incredible - but compared to the animal world we only see, hear and smell a tiny fraction of what is out there. There is a completely hidden world that animals across the globe can experience. In a breathtaking new series for BBC Two, biologist Patrick Aryee and physicist Dr Helen Czerski explore this world, one beyond the limits of human perception, to reveal extraordinary and surprising animal senses.
Taking science out of the lab and to some of the most exotic locations on Earth, they conduct experiments and demonstrations with a variety of spectacular species from the animal world, including cheetahs, baboons, killer bees, elephants, owls, wolverines, giant sharks and tiny golden moles.
The first episode explores the extraordinary sense of sight in the animal world, through the spectrum of light human eyes can see – and beyond to a world they can’t. Helen and Patrick reveal how caribou - wild reindeer of Alaska - use ultraviolet light to avoid their predators; they discover how their ability to see in slow motion allows dragonflies to make a kill in the blink of a human eye, and how a snake can see in the pitch black - without using its eyes.
Patrick Aryee says: "I'm fascinated by the everyday physical world around us, and this series was a reminder of how much is out there that we cannot detect. All organisms face the problem of how to sense their world, and I was frequently surprised and delighted by the elegance and effectiveness of evolutionary solutions to that problem – and it was a lot of fun to bring a physicist's perspective to the topic of natural history."
"There were so many moments of disbelief throughout our filming, turning a camper van into a giant speaker, walking alongside a six-tonne African Elephant, being mesmerised by the unsuspecting Golden Mole and defying gravity with the power of sound. The way animals sense their environment is, more often than not, beyond our human perception, but I feel we've managed to capture a glimmer of this beautiful and alien world."
Patrick Aryee says: "I'm fascinated by the everyday physical world around us, and this series was a reminder of how much is out there that we cannot detect. All organisms face the problem of how to sense their world, and I was frequently surprised and delighted by the elegance and effectiveness of evolutionary solutions to that problem – and it was a lot of fun to bring a physicist's perspective to the topic of natural history."
"There were so many moments of disbelief throughout our filming, turning a camper van into a giant speaker, walking alongside a six-tonne African Elephant, being mesmerised by the unsuspecting Golden Mole and defying gravity with the power of sound. The way animals sense their environment is, more often than not, beyond our human perception, but I feel we've managed to capture a glimmer of this beautiful and alien world."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04fhp70
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Presenters Helen Czerski and Patrick Aryee journey through the world of sound - from the deepest rumbles to the highest squeaks. Using specialised technology, they experience sounds beyond the range of our human hearing.
This episode reveals how alligators use low-pitch rumbles to make the water around them 'dance' and shows what it is like to be a bat and to 'see' with sound. Also, Helen and Patrick convert a classic camper van into a giant speaker to conduct the ultimate hearing test for a herd of elephants.
Episode 2: Sound
Presenters Helen Czerski and Patrick Aryee journey through the world of sound - from the deepest rumbles to the highest squeaks. Using specialised technology, they experience sounds beyond the range of our human hearing.
This episode reveals how alligators use low-pitch rumbles to make the water around them 'dance' and shows what it is like to be a bat and to 'see' with sound. Also, Helen and Patrick convert a classic camper van into a giant speaker to conduct the ultimate hearing test for a herd of elephants.