Sharpest eyesight – Birds of prey
The eyesight of birds such as eagles, hawks and buzzards is 3-
Best bird night vision – Owls
Despite their smaller size, owls have eyes almost as big as ours and their huge pupils capture lots of light. In fact, an owl could probably spot a mouse on a football pitch lit by a single candle. Secondly, like other birds, their brains can capture an ‘at a glance’ picture that a human eye would have to scan back and forth to understand. However because their forward-
Best underwater vision – Sharks
Never play hide and seek with a shark because you’ll lose. They can detect a glow that is ten times dimmer than anything we are capable of seeing. But just in case that wasn’t good enough, sharks have special cells in their brains that detect electrical fields. These not only help them to navigate like a compass but allow them to detect the weak electrical fields given off by the merest twitch of a muscle. Meaning even a distant fish hiding deep underneath the sand will be found and eaten. Gulp!
Best thermal vision – Snakes
Best mammal night vision – Cats
Cats have awesome night vision. This is because their pupils widen until they are large circles letting far more light into their eyes -
Best motion detectors – insects
Whereas we only have one lens in each of our eyes, an insect can have hundreds. Eyes likes these are known as compound eyes. And instead of seeing one clear image , each eye of the insect sees a little bit of the overall picture. While our eyesight is far superior to most insects, compound eyes are incredibly good for detecting movement. With complete 360 vision, the merest twitch will be picked up by your common house fly.
Best all-round view – Grazing mammals
It pays grazing mammals, such as horses, gazelles and zebras, to remain vigilant at all times. Because if they don’t a predator will have a free meal ticket. When grazing with their heads down, if these animals had forward facing eyes like us, they would have a large blind spot which could cost them their life. However eyes that face sideways give them an almost all-