Humans over rely on vision.

We have four other senses, touch, smell, taste, and hearing, but when identifying things

in our environment, when understanding the world around us, we prioritize what we're seeing.

If your dog or another pet walked into the room right now and they looked completely different,

right? They were transformed, so they looked completely different, right?

They were transformed, so they looked like a different breed.

It wouldn't matter if they smelled the same and barked the same.

You would not recognize them as your dog.

And if I put a coffee mug in your house that looked visually, completely exactly like your favorite mug,

but it smelled different, you wouldn't be like, this isn't my mug,

you'd think, huh, my mug smells funny, and move on.

Vision trumps all when you're a homo sapiens.

And this is why across folklore throughout cultures, shape-shifting is such a scary ability.

Most listeners will know about werewolves and vampires and the like, but maybe less of you

will know about the Somali hyena men or the Indian rochises.

Less of you will know about the Irish kelpies,

who present as horses so that when you mount them, they can run into the water and drown you.

Or the Korean kumiho, who present as beautiful young men and women so that, after enchanting you,

they have the opportunity to eat your heart.

Think about this. We trust our vision enough to recognize it in our folklore as a weakness of our own species,

a way we can succumb to tricksters.

Now, I don't believe in any of the folkloric beings I just described, but I can't tell you shape-shifting isn't real.

...