Astabled animal, for example a dairy cow tied to a stanchion, experiences few environmental changes—and these by and large are routine.
It is quite different with a wild animal, which, if it is to survive, must constantly check its environment. It must see obstacles, hear predators, smell other animals to distinguish outsiders from members of its own group, taste in order to discard harmful substances in its food, and, in a more general way, be in touch with its surroundings “through its skin” by perceiving touch, pressure, and temperature.
This is made possible by those organs that represent the special senses (eye, ear, olfactory organ, and organ of taste) and those others that are widely diffused, especially in the skin, where they mediate a cutaneous sense. The former contain concentrations of highly specialized sensory cells; the latter are composed of numerous peripheral specialized endings of centrally located sensory cell bodies. Associated with the ear are sensory cells that respond to gravity and to movements of the head and so give the animal its sense of balance.All these senses are conscious, that is to say, the animal is aware of what it has registered. However, there are other systems concerned with muscle and visceral sense of which the animal is less aware and by which it is in touch with the “internal environment” of its own body.
The organs of special sense are described first.
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