Feline vision: how the world sees your cat

The desire of cats to play with feet and fluffy toys originates in their hunting instinct, but it is largely due to the unique vision of your pet. And as it turns out, scientists know a lot about what cats see. In his collection of images of artist Nickolay Lamm, tries to capture the vision difference between cats and humans. While people are able to see more bright colors during daylight hours, our feline counterparts have a significant advantage when it comes to peripheral and night vision.

Cats have a wider field of view of about 200 degrees compared to 180 degrees, which can boast of people. In addition, cat's wider peripheral vision, which enables them instantly to detect a mouse scratching in the corner.

Cats are nocturnal, which means that they become active after sunset. It is because they need good night vision. In comparison with ludmil the eyes of cats at six to eight times more cells of the sticks more sensitive to weak illumination.

The elliptical shape of the eye Pets, larger corneas and tapetum lucidum - a layer of tissue that reflects light back to the retina, also promotes night vision. The tapetum may also shift the light waves that perceive cat, so that the silhouette of their prey or other objects more visible in the night sky, explains Kerry Ketring, a veterinarian from eye clinic for animals of Michigan, USA,

Additional number of sticks allows the cats to sense motion in the dark much better than it is possible for people.

However, the benefits of cat are limited. The human retina contains about 10 times more cones – the light receptors that function better in bright light.

"The man in the 10-12 times better detects motion in bright light compared to a cat or dog, which is possible due to the large number of cones," says Ketring.

In addition, man possesses three kinds of cones, allowing you to see a wider color spectrum with enhanced sensitivity to red, green and blue. While the cats also have three types of cones, the number and distribution of each of them is different. The experiments demonstrate that cats do not see the range of colors available to people.

Some experts believe that the color vision of cats is limited to blue and grey, while other scientists believe that the range of colors they have is the same as in dogs, but with less saturation and brightness, says Ketring. Dogs see the world in fewer hues than humans, and cannot distinguish between red, green and orange objects. But fish can see ultraviolet waves, completely inaccessible to people.

Due to the large number of cones people see more clearly and over a wider range of bright colors.We can clearly see objects at a distance of 30 to 60 meters, while cats clearly see the same object at a distance of not more than 6 meters.

The cats do not have the muscles necessary to change the shape of the eye lens, so that they cannot see clearly as close as people, and they need to move away from objects, says Ketring.

Although your pet can perfectly catch a fleeting fear of mice, midlandodessa the subjects available to the human eye, look for the cats fixed.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»