Pretty simple. I was thinking dog, but I don’t know about the sight thing. Hawk, but I’m not sure about their hearing. Etc.
Anyone have any insight to this?
I would say any of the feline group. Including Lions, tigers, servals and house cats.
I wasn’t under the impression that cats have very good smell. I suppose that would go for the entire feline group.
I was under the impression cats had very poor vision. I know their vision is worse than a dogs and dogs have poorer eyesight than humans.
Cats do have excellent low light vision (better than humans and dogs) but that just means a dark room is not as dark to them as it is to us. They still have poorer resolution.
So perhaps you need to better define what excellent vision entails. Full color vision, low light vision, high resolution vision?
I also thought dogs had a better sense of smell than a cat (not that cats don’t have an excellent sense of smell…just in comparison).
Thinking on it more it would surprise me if a cat had better hearing too but I honestly do not know.
More info:
If you’re looking for the animal with the best average acuity of all three senses, it’s probably going to be between dog and cat. Choosing between them is going to be difficult, I think. Offhand, I would guess that dogs have a better sense of smell, while cats may have better hearing. I am not sure by what margin each one might exceed the other in the respective senses. Although both have good visual acuity, they don’t have much in the way of color vision.
Falcons have much better vision than either, I think, but have a very poor sense of smell, and I doubt that their hearing is exceptional. Turvey vultures have very good vision and a good sense of smell, but again hearing may not be at the level of a dog or a cat.
I think throught the animal kingdom there are organisms that have adapted different organs for different uses. Rabbits for instance have large ears and they rely heavily on them, this compensates for relatively poor eyesight and moderate smelling capabilities. Also, many animals use a highly developed sense of touch through their vibrisa (wiskers) that can detect the most minute vibration in the air or on the ground. So to ask a Q about which animal has the best of all worlds, is kind of loaded, as there are few that do have the best of everything. Varying degrees must be factored in. In all I would say wild animals have more acute senses than domesticated ones, however, I have no cites to back this up. That being said, I would think Hienas (sp?) and wolverines and tigers and lions would rank relatively high up on all senses being intuned to their respective environs.
BTW, I chose those animals randomly…
Yes, it is generally going to be a trade-off. You are not going to find an animal that is among the very best in all three categories. The best on average are going to be found among the mammalian carnivores.
I can’t imagine that domesticated cats or dogs have the best sense of anything on the planet. Isn’t a shark’s sense of smell spectacular?
There are other senses, too. Don’t forget about heat receptors (like pit vipers) or those electric impulse receptors that a lot of fish have (sharks’ are apparently quite sensitive).
That’s not the question though, as far as I can tell. The OP is not asking what animal is the best at any one of those senses, but which is best overall.
Best sense of hearing: Rabbit
Best sense of smell: Bear
Best sense of sight: Worm
Source: Yertle the Turtle and other stories, by Dr. Seuss
Oh, did you mean which animal is the best with all three senses, or which three animals have the best of one sense?
I just re-read the OP, and I got a bit confused.
Sharks have just about the best sense of smell in the animal kingdom, whilst their hearing is excellent and sight is very good especially at low light levels. http://elasmophiles.tripod.com/id9.html
Dolphins, wales, squid are worth considering as well.
Yes, which one has the best average of all three.
I think I would like to stick to land animals, however, if you have a cite that mentions, for instance, the Shark as the best then I’ll allow that.
I guess what I’m looking for is an animal in which it would be feasible for someone to have as a pet. Not legally, just practically.
Isn’t it possible that man might be the answer?
Individually, our senses are far outperformed by other members of the animal kingdom, but it wouldn’t be surprising if our average of all three senses puts us over the top.
I’ll guess that the turkey vulture is a good candidate. Most birds, many of which have excellent visual acuity, have little or no sense of smell. The turkey vulture is an exception, possessing an acute sense of smell which helps it locate carrion. It also has very good sight and hearing, more typical in a bird.
Define “Best”.
A hawk can pick out a moving mouse from 100s of meters away. A owl has eyes that operate incredibly well in low light (and has three sets of eyelids). A woodcock has essentially 360 field of vision. Which is better?
Our eyes are pretty good (though not nearly as good as a hawk’s). Our hearing is OK, but nothing special. As far as smell goes, we are damn near “blind” compared to a dog or most other mammals. I don’t think we’re in the running.
Nothing in the animal kingdom can beat the dog for smell.
Sure the shark can smell blood very well.
But can it smell chili?
The dog can not only smell chili…it can smell each ingredient.