Charles Foster, recent recipient of the “Ig Nobel” prize in biology (and a fellow at Oxford University), has recently lived as a badger (inside a hole in Wales), an otter playing in rivers, and an “urban fox” rummaging through garbage bins in London, in addition to a red deer and (“ridiculously,” he admits) a migratory bird mapping treetop air currents – all in order to authentically experience those creatures’ lives apart from their physical appearance, which is generally all that humans know. 

“We have five glorious senses,” he told the Ig Nobel audience, and need to “escape the tyranny” of the visual. “Drop onto all fours,” he recommended. “Sniff the ground. Lick a leaf.” 

Thanks for saving us from all that leaf-licking Mr. Foster.