Color, distance, and light all shape the human perception of the world. But what do other kinds of animals see?
Humans have binocular vision allowing for a 180-degree field of view. But whales have monocular vision, where each eye sees a separate vision. This enables them to respond quickly to threats. Birds of prey have 340-degree vision and see eight times farther than humans. Plus, kestrels and some species of hawks can see ultraviolet light. That’s handy to spot the urine trails left by small mammals, which reflect ultraviolet light and lead the way to dinner.
Human eyes contain three different cones detecting blue, green, and red on the light spectrum with all shades in between. It’s not exactly known what colors mantis shrimp can see, but they have 16 cones in their eyes. Their highly advanced color recognition abilities may be hard for humans to comprehend. Nocturnal predators such as mountain lions have a reflective membrane in their eyes that allows them to see in low light.
And insects have so-called “compound eyes” with many lenses, which allow them to easily detect movement and see in all directions at the same time. A grasshopper has 2 lenses, some flies have 5,000, but the magnificent dragonfly has 30,000 lenses! Their incredible vision also means dragonflies can see you from the back of their head after they have already flown on by.
This Earth Note was written by Carrie Calisay Cannon and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University with funding from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies.
