Fourth in a six-part series revealing our lives from the animals' point of view.
A look at the part other creatures play in the mysterious world of human belief. Bushmen trance dance in the company of animals and Aborigines use bees to find honey. In Bali's holiest cave, worshippers appear as pulsing sound images to its native bats. On the misty Ganges turtles wait for a macabre meal, and in the market a holy cow becomes an aggressive shopper. Eighty thousand of Thailand's storks crowd a temple sanctuary and, fed by monks, huge catfish make the water boil. In Italy snakes sway from the top of a saint's statue and in America rattlesnakes, with their infrared sight, see haunting thermal auras of people interpreting the Bible literally and "taking up serpents" to reinforce their faith. Through animals' bizarre sensory worlds Lifesense reveals how changing human belief has affected other life.
Narrated by Andrew Sachs. Producer John Downer
(Stereo)
(Teletext subtitles: page 888)
BBC Book: £15.95, from booksellers.
BBC Wildlife Magazine: December issue includes features on man's perception of the pig, and wildlife cameramen's encounters with parasites. Plus a chance to win a place on an Earthwatch conservation project in Vietnam. From newsagents, £1.75.
Nature: page 10