An Englishman, an elephant and a bat walk into a bar. This is not the set up to a joke, but a thought experiment of the kind that you might encounter in Ed Yong’s jaw-dropping new study of animal perception.
To the Englishman, the bar is cosy and inviting: the wood-panelled room, the warm light, the low wooden beams and the generous selection of single malts. The elephant is aware of, but less impressed by, the interior decor. She is more interested in the mysterious, lowfrequency rumbling of trains as they pass beneath the building; to her, they seem like blares of white noise. Who could relax somewhere like this? The bat, now airborne, emits thousands of clicks and squeals as it circumnavigates the room. From the pattern of returning sound, it recognises the hardness and irregularity of the flagstone floors, the smooth surface of the windows and an insect’s unmistakeable flutter from the corner.