Explore the Animal Kingdom Series

Seeing The World Through Different Eyes

How and what do animals see? We may think that animals see the same things we do, and in the same way, but the world is more amazing than that. According to Tom Cronin, a biologist from the University of Maryland who specialises in animal vision, it is impossible to know exactly what all animals see, because what they see depends greatly on how their brain translates the images it receives!

Eyes range from the simplest ones that can only sense the difference between light and darkness, to more complicated eyes which are able to focus light to form a clear picture of what is around them. Science writer Ed Yong explains how animal eyes come in all shapes and sizes. Check out this video to see just how amazing animals’ eyes are, especially those of the mantis shrimp!

There are multiple scientists around the world researching animal vision. One such researcher is Dr Jolyon Troscianko. He was also part of a team which developed technological tools which allow people to be able to change images of how we see the world, to images which show how different animals see the world. He is also a photographer and makes physical changes to his cameras to be able to take ‘animal vision’ photos. In fact, one of his favourite things is ultraviolet (UV, which is produced by the sun) photography.

But why is this important? Take as an example the bee. Did you know that bees are able to see the world through ultraviolet light? Something that we humans cannot see with our eyes. By using his camera, Dr Jolyon Troscianko can show us how bees see the world around them.

Take a look at the images below to see how red pelargonium flowers look through the eyes of different animals.

Credit – Link: http://www.jolyon.co.uk/2016/10/pelargonium-in-uv/

What are we looking at?

1. The first image is how we humans would see the flower.
2. The second image is the same image but through a honeybee’s vision. They cannot see the red colour, but they can use UV light, giving them the image which you see above.
3. The third image shows how a jumping spider would see the flower, which is similar to what we would see
4. The last image shows how a dog is unable to distinguish between red and green colours, making the whole flower look green in its eyes! Pretty amazing right?

If you’re interested in seeing more of his work, make sure to check out his website here: http://www.jolyon.co.uk/

Get Hands-On!

Try your hands at a few activities designed to explore how animals such as bats, cats and chameleons see the world!

Download the activity sheets from below.

Chameleon Periscope Activity Sheets

Cat Reflection Activity Sheets

Bats Echolocation Activity Sheets

Fun Facts!

• Did you know that some geckos, such as the leaf-tailed gecko, does not have eyelids? They have large eyes to catch prey in the dark of the night, but they do not have eyelids, which we know are very important to protect our eyes. So how do the leaf-tailed geckos keep their eyes clean from dirt? They lick them!
• The tarsier has the largest eyes in proportion to its body amongst all the mammals in the animal kingdom It looks like a cute teddy bear, but it’s actually a jumping forest ninja. Its body is the size of a squirrel, but it has extremely large eyes which it uses to hunt at night to snack on lizards and insects. Each eye is heavier than the tarsier brain! Since they are too big to look around with, they can only see straight ahead. To make up for this, the tarsier has evolved to swivel its head around – yes, its whole head – a whopping 360°. For more information on these amazing creatures, check out this video https://youtu.be/pgo14umnNV0