Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 42 minutes ago

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10. Super smell
Compared to nearly all other animal species, humans have an extremely weak sense of smell. So much so, that some animals could be said to possess a unique sense of super smell. Scent hounds can smell one- to ten-million times more acutely than humans, and bloodhounds have noses ten- to one-hundred-million times more sensitive than ours. Bears have an even stronger sense of smell than dogs. Black bears have been observed to travel up to 20 miles in a straight line to a food source, grizzlies can find an elk carcass when it's underwater, and polar bears can smell a seal through 3 feet of ice.
But not all animals use their nose for smelling. Snakes have one of the most powerful mechanisms for smelling but it has nothing to do with their nostrils. Snakes use their nostrils solely for breathing, while smelling is achieved by sticking out their tongues and using the damp surface to catch scent particles and carry them to a special n the mouth called Jacobson's . In other words, snakes smell by literally “tasting” the air with their tongues and they’re doing a much better job than humans and their noses.
9. Mechanoreception
While most spiders have eight eyes, few of them have good eyesight which means they have to rely on their other senses to get around. One particularly well developed sense that helps spiders catch prey and escape dangerous situations is called mechanoreception. Mechanoreception refers to the process by which a mechanical stimulus is converted into a nervous impulse.
The exoskeleton of spiders is covered in small receptor called slit sensilla which respond to mechanical pressure. These tiny sensory , which resemble the strings of a cord instrument, are super sensitive to even the slightest pressure or vibration, which helps spiders catch their prey at night. Slit sensilla are so sensitive that they can respond to forces as small as 0.01 millinewtons, which is less than half the body weight of a typical cockroach. This means that spiders able to determine the size, weight, and even the type of insect that gets caught in their webs without relying on their eyesight.

8. Barometric pressure detection
If you’re tired of misleading weather forecasts on the news, just get yourself an aquarium and a couple of oriental weatherfish and you’ll be able to predict an approaching storm before anyone else. Oriental weatherfish, also known as pond loach, is a species of ray-finned fish native to East Asia that has a unique ability to detect changes in barometric pressure.
A drop in barometric pressure causes a pressure change in the weatherfish’s swim bladder - an internal gas-filled that helps fish control their buoyancy and maintain its depth without floating upward or sinking. Every time the barometric pressure falls, the weatherfish will become extremely agitated and start swimming frantically in the hours before a storm. Sometimes the fish will become so stressed that they will jump out of the aquarium! Luckily, these remarkable fish can live up to three days out of a tank so if you ever find you weatherfish on the floor one morning, put it back in the aquarium and the chances are the fish will soon revive and make a full recovery.
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7. Polarization vision
Unlike humans who only have a marginal sensitivity to polarized light, a number of other animal species have a heightened polarization sensitivity which allows them to tell the orientation in which light waves are oscillating. Insects such as bees, ants, and crickets have compound eyes that are composed of thousands of "simple eyes". Each of these smaller eyes has its own visual cells which are highly sensitive to polarized light.
Not only does this allow insects like bees to perceive the light in dimensions unknown to humans, it also gives them the ability to use the patterns of polarized light in the sky as a compass. Bees use polarization vision as a navigation system to locate directions and communicate them to the colony, which essentially means that these hardworking creatures have a built-in GPS system!
6. Magnetoreception
Magnetoreception, or the ability to detect the Earth's magnetic field in order to perceive direction, altitude or location, is present in several animal species but humans are not one of them.

00:00 - Introduction: Human vs Animal Senses
00:25 - Super Smell
01:29 - Meccano Reception in Spiders
02:16 - Barometric Pressure Detection
03:24 - Polarization Vision
04:19 - Magneto Reception
05:30 - Seismic Communication
06:29 - Electroreception
07:13 - Super Vision
07:58 - Infrared Sensing
08:46 - Echolocation
09:40 - Conclusion

#humanity #animals #downtherabbithole