I've been exploring the Umwelt of my dog, Malibu through our walks (it is a practice described by Ed Yong in An Immense World ). So I'm practicing the practice of ... Umgebung (an Umwelt as seen by another observer) . It is an interesting practice - one that takes extreme empath - it is exhausting and exhilarating at times. I read a book sometime in the 1990s about a spaceship crash-landing on a planet with beings like trees - the trees were sentient and I cannot remember the title nor much more about the storyline. Those trees had a unique Umwelt, and to communicate the humans had to first, practice Umgebung. [Note: this book could have been by Don Saker - Scattered Worlds series - maybe]. I've been reading about the Hlutr - they have a First Language - of color, they have a Second Language - of sounds, and they have the Universal Language. I'm trying to remember... investigate this... When I read about a minke whale in captivity that "...