There is no doubt that the cat eyes are really beautiful. However have you ever thought about how they are arranged? What exactly does your cat see? Is the cat’s visual perception different from the human? In this article you will find answers to these and other questions about cat eyes.
The behavior of cats is not always clear to its owner. Sometimes it seems that the pet closely watches something that is not visible to humans. The ability of cats to orient themselves in complete darkness is also striking. What and how do cats see? How are their bodies arranged? These questions are of interest to all animal lovers.
1. What do cats see?
It is believed that cats, like humans, have binocular vision (in other words, the images that each eye receives individually overlap), and they, like humans, are able to see in three dimensions.
Cat’s eyesight is also very clear. Imagine a cat can jump over a distance that is 10 times the size of its body and land exactly at a given point. This action requires not only an amazing balance, but also an amazing eyesight.
Despite the prevalent myth, cats do not see the world as black and white. However, their perception of color is different from the human.
2. Can cats see in the dark better than people?
Yes, it’s true. The retina of the cat eyes contains rods and cones. The cones help to perceive color shades during the day, and the rods do it for night vision. Cats’ ratio of rods to cones is much larger than that of humans, so in the dark they can see better.
There is a reflective membranous layer (tapetum) at the bottom of the cat eyes behind the retina. It creates a striking glow effect in the dark.
The light that catches the cat eyes reflects off the tapetum and again passes through the retina, which makes the photosensitivity of the cat’s eye more intense. For this reason, cats can see in conditions of poor illumination much better than we do.
The vertical pupils structure allows felines to narrow and expand much more than pupils do. This is what allows cats to see perfectly at night. In the afternoon, the dilated pupil may indicate that the cat is extremely nervous (for example, during the game) or is very frightened.
3. Do cats distinguish colors?
In the scientific world there are certain disagreements on this point. Some scientific experiments have shown that cats reacted to colors in blue, green, purple and yellow shades. So it is assumed that cats can perceive them precisely as colors. They did not show any reaction to the shades of red, brown and orange. They probably see these colors as shades of gray. From this it is concluded that cats do not distinguish as many color shades as people do.
4. What is the difference between a human and a feline pupil?
The human pupil has a round shape, and the cat’s pupil is elliptical. The elliptical pupil dilates and tapers faster than the round pupil. Therefore, feline eyes can react more quickly to light changing than ours. In addition, the pupils of the cat are much larger than humans, which makes it possible to see better in poor light conditions, again proving the excellent night vision of cats.
Feline vision is much better than the human one – it exceeds ours by 6 times.
5. How does the color of the eyes affect the behavior of cats?
The color of the eyes is usually inherited. All kittens are born with blue eyes. The color of the eyes changes to “adult” when they reach the age of one month. Many cats have a green or amber tinge. White or Siamese cats can have blue eyes. White blue-eyed cats, as a rule, are deaf. This happens because the gene that causes deafness is associated with genes responsible for white fur and blue eyes. White cats with different eye colors (eg, one blue, another yellow) may have a deaf ear, located on the side of the blue eye.
6. Cats do not discern small parts. The structure of the cat eyes is arranged in such a way that the kitties can’t see the leaves on the trees or the text in the book as well as we do.
The cat is not able to see what is under its nose. Therefore, if you give its something tasty and put it on the floor, then it needs time to find it.
American scientists reached an unprecedented result. They were able to look at the world the way a cat did it. During an experiment electrodes were connected with 177 neurons were inserted into its brain. Afterwards, experts read and decoded the data obtained from these electrodes. They saw following picture on the computer: a cat sees the whole world in diffuse colors, but it can recognize distinct objects and human faces quite clearly.
7. Cats can be color-blind. Ironically, the feline mechanism of color blindness in is the same as we have: they do not distinguish red from green.
Meanwhile under normal circumstances, we can see that the cat’s eyes shimmer with greenish light. You can observe it even at a distance of up to 260 feet (80 meters). This is due to the fact that when light hits the cat’s retina, it reflects it in such a way that part of the rays return in the opposite direction along the same path that they penetrated into the eyes.
8. The third eyelid additionally protects the cat eyes. We can especially clearly see this eyelid, when the cat is very happy or sick.
9. Cats kiss with their eyes. If a cat looks at you intently, and then blinks slowly, then this is a sign of deep affection.
10. One cannot deny the fact that kitties sometimes follow the movements of something invisible with their eyes. Many owners can tell stories about the inappropriate behavior of pets, when they observe something for a long time in an empty space. The pet can jump up sharply, hiss, its hair rises, and the pupils dilate. Some pussies can even tantrum with wild screaming and running around. They rush about the room, not seeing and choosing the way, knocking down and breaking everything in their path.
A scientific explanation of such phenomena can be like this. Cat’s sight is not very clear, especially regarding fixed objects. Felines mostly feel and perceive changes in the surroundings by the ears. Therefore, the kitty may get frightened and behaves inadequately when something happens unexpectedly.
This version has the right to exist.
However, if you think about it, you can justify it contrariwise. The achievements of modern science prove that there is a world beyond the limits of human perception. We cannot hear an ultrasound, but animals can hear it perfectly. There are light waves that our eyes are not capable of perceiving. Therefore, we can say that the world of spirits and ghosts is not more than fiction. But perhaps a cat has the ability to perceive the ambiance much wider and deeper than a human being can do. By the way, psychics and mediums argue that domestic cats can even communicate with the world of the dead.
A caring pet lover does not care how his pet sees the world. The owner knows that he can read the cat’s mood by its eyes: playfulness, fun, fervor or fury, discontent. The main thing is that big and beautiful cat eyes radiate love and devotion to the owner. If you devoted more time to dealing with your loving friend, its eyesight would remain good for many years, and its behavior would always be adequate.
