Umwelt

29th April 2024: This week’s blog starts with a book recommendation: ‘An Immense World’ by Ed Yong (https://edyong.me/an-immense-world). The book starts by imagining a room full of different creatures, thinking how each in turn would experience the situation – Some taste with their feet, or use smell to map the ocean… Some are able to decipher colour and sounds way beyond what us humans can. Some develop ultrasonic hearing to pinpoint their prey in the dark, some can sense the earth’s magnetic field so they know when it’s time to migrate and, incredibly, how to get there!

Each creature has developed sensory systems to meet their needs to survive.

It’s hard to imagine what we can’t sense. The world is a cacophony of sensory information, with each and every creature only able to access a tiny fraction of what is there.

Within our own species, there’s massive variation both in what we are able to sense and how we interpret that sensory input. We all have different sensitivities to sounds, textures, tastes and sights. Whilst it is mind boggling to me that some people like the taste of olives, or the texture of a sloppy poached egg, others would find my appreciation of all things wild and messy a bit overwhelming!

Our Growing Me toolkits encourage people to get to know their sensory systems, and explore the tastes and textures and movements that feel good and calming!