Abstract
From honeybee foraging to bird migration, the orientation of animals in their environments is vital for survival and provides opportunities for studying the neural mechanisms that underlie the perception and processing of sensory information. Temperature is a ubiquitous environmental variable that affects both the rate and the nature of the chemical reactions in and around a cell. Animals have developed sophisticated thermosensory systems that help them to avoid the physiological catastrophe caused by extreme temperatures and to seek out optimal temperatures at which they can thrive.