Have you ever wondered, how do cats see? Oddly enough, cat eyes have a lot in common with humans, simply because they are mammals.
Obviously, there are also big differences. For example, it is well known to scientists that the feline eye has a wider peripheral vision than the human eye, but what color do cats see? See in the dark? Let’s see it in this entertaining article, with examples, shall we start?
Do you see in the dark?
While we only reach 180 º, the kitten controls an environment of 200 º
At the same time, we have nothing to do when comparing with night vision, since the cat handles much better in the dark.
Felines have larger eyes, in comparison, than ours. The reason is very simple.
Evolution endowed them with this characteristic so that they could enjoy that depth of field of vision during the greatest number of hours of the day, regardless of the light. This allowed them to be better hunters. It is the same reason why they have binocular vision, which allows them to widen the field of vision, an essential feature for predators.
How cats see the world
We are talking about a complicated tissue of the eye that is capable of reflecting light. It absorbs a lot of light and reflects it as a step preceding its arrival on the retina. To this we have to add the amount of photoreceptor cells that work in the cat’s eyeball.
The combination is explosive and its results are impressive when viewing at night. (below we give you an example).However, those same characteristics that allow it to be so effective in the dark prevent them from seeing clearly during the day. During daylight hours, the cat’s eye gets blurry and cloudy images.
Do cats see color?
That cats only see in black and white is nothing more than a popular belief. However, they can only perceive certain colors and to a limited extent. This is greatly influenced by the type of light in which they are moving.
The photoreceptors of cats are capable of capturing the colors green and blue. Consequently, cats can perceive a range of cold colors and some warmer ones, such as yellow.
However, the color red is removed from their color palette and they see it as a kind of dark gray. To this is added the fact that the tones they perceive lack the brightness with which we perceive colors as humans. They also lose in saturation.
Now, the less light there is, the less colors a cat perceives. In fact, during the night hours the animal, without light, does see in gray tones.
All these reasons make it possible to affirm that, in reality, the vision of the cat is more perfect with dim light and half-lit spaces .
With this lighting, the cat’s eyesight is more balanced and it can take advantage of all its qualities to get more out of it.
The vision of cats from near and far
Some ophthalmologists specialized in feline vision assure that the cat is a bit myopic. However, its near vision is not much better. The closer you have an object, the worse you will perceive it.
With such big eyes you had to pay a certain toll. The size of their eyeballs prevents them from focusing easily.
People have certain muscles in our eyes that are capable of distorting things that are closest to us. In this way we can greatly improve perception. Finally, it should be noted that the feline does not have this ability, so the things that you put in front of their noses will be much more blurred than those that are further away.
