What animals see
A hawk can see much better
than a person can. From high in the sky, a hawk can see a tiny mouse in
the grass below.
Broadwinged Hawk
If you were a rabbit, nibbling plants in a meadow, you would be able to
see in front, on both sides, and nearly all the way behind—all at the
same time!
But you wouldn’t see any color at all. Everything would be gray and
fuzzy, like a black-and-white TV picture that isn’t tuned in just right.
But if something moved
behind you, you would see the movement at once.
If you were a hawk, you would see things in colors, just as people do.
But your eyes would be like magnifying glasses. A hawk flying at 1,000
feet (300 meters) can see a mouse in the grass.
If you could see through a bee’s eyes things would look most strange to
you. A field of red flowers would seem like a big, black shadow. Yellow
daisies would have glowing spots that people can’t see. The glowing
spots are a color called ultraviolet. Bees see ultraviolet, but people
cannot.
Many other animals see things very differently from the way people do.
Some spiders have eight eyes! What do you suppose things look like to
them? How do things look to a lobster or an octopus? We can only guess.
But each kind of animal sees the way it must, to stay alive.
These are pictures of the same flower. The bottom picture was taken
with a special kind of light. It shows that there’s a color we can’t
see in the middle of the flower. A bee sees this color as a bright
glow.
Deer
Because a deer’s eyes are on the sides of its head, a deer can see in
front, on both sides, and partway behind itself all at the same time.
