Do cats see in the dark? Do they distinguish colors? How far can they see? Why do cats watch without blinking? Why do their eyes shine? Find out all these answers in our article … We are all used to the way our cats look, and almost no one thought that they have very large eyes. Large in relation to the size of the head. If people had such eyes, then we would look exactly like the big-eyed heroes of Japanese cartoons. But in addition to the size of the eyes themselves, they differ from other mammals and the pupils themselves.
Only cats are able to widen and narrow their pupils to a small slit so widely, controlling the flow of light entering them. Of course, nature endowed the cat with such an outstanding organ of vision for a reason - this is the main tool of a predator in hunting, which is necessary for an animal to survive. But how well do they really see?
Do cats see in the dark?
Many people think that a cat can see perfectly in the dark. In fact, she sees great in very low light - 10 times less light than a human is enough for her. This is due to the fact that this animal hunts mainly at night. But in complete darkness, the beast, like us, sees nothing.
Many may object because they themselves have seen … or rather heard how the pet calmly walks at home in complete darkness along some closed corridor, where there are absolutely no sources of light. But this is not a matter of sight - the cat is well oriented in complete darkness, relying on its excellent memory, sense of smell and its whiskers, with which it catches air currents. Moreover, sometimes even the owner cannot immediately determine that his cat is losing sight - she can lead her usual way of life well in a familiar room, without changing her usual behavior in any way.
Do cats distinguish colors?
It used to be that cats were color blind and only saw in shades of gray. The main reason for this opinion was that the ability to distinguish colors was not inherent in her by nature itself, because she is a nocturnal animal, and at night all colors have gray shades, and moreover, small rodents that cats hunt do not have color coloring either. But modern scientists have scientifically confirmed not only the unique ability to distinguish shades of gray, but also to distinguish other colors. Not as good as people, though. It's all about the rods and cones (photoreceptors) located on the retina. The cones contain color pigments. A person has three of them - red, yellow and blue. It is from these 3 colors that all the other colors that we see are composed. So, cats in cones also have color pigments, but they have only two of them - yellow and blue. So if you print a picture on a printer where the red ink ran out, then we will roughly see in what colors the animal sees it. But only approximately, because the ratio of the rods responsible for determining the shades to the cones is 4: 1, and in cats it is 25: 1.
How far can cats see?
This animal can notice a moving object at a distance of up to 800 meters, and clearly distinguish objects at a distance of 0.5 to 60 meters. So the cat sees very badly close up. Many, probably, noticed that if you put a piece of delicacy under her nose, then she cannot immediately find it, because she does not see it.
Why do cats watch without blinking?
They have a third eyelid that moves tear fluid around the eye, protecting the eye from drying out and further protecting it.
Why do cats have glowing eyes?
Their eyes are covered with a vascular layer called the tapetum. This layer reflects the light entering the eyes and creates a glowing effect.
Video about cats and a parallel world:
