World through the eyes of your pet

All of the anatomical and physiological features of the cat's eyes are required for successful hunting. Cats have large eyes (relative to body and head size) that are directed forward. This is a characteristic of many predators. Their field of vision, together with their peripheral vision, covers about 200 degrees.Within this field, 90 degrees are "binocular," with the eyes working together to perceive depth (e.g., determining how far away a bird is).Cat eyes are also more sensitive to fast movement and are ideal for catching agile mice.

However, the vision of cats is not as effective in hunting at close range, because in this case their vision is fuzzy and less detailed than ours.The optimal focal length is between two and six meters, which is ideal for stalking.If the prey is closer than half a meter, the cat's eyes do not even focus.At this point, the whiskers work.

That's why indoor cats are slightly nearsighted, as the objects they focus on are usually closer.Cats living outdoors are usually farsighted, just like their ancestors.

The world through the eyes of your pet.

 Humans and cats have much in common in the structure of the eye.

The cat's eye works the same way as ours: light enters the pupils, is focused by the lens and cornea, and then projected onto the retina at the back of the eye.The retina has two types of receptors: rods and cones.The rods are responsible for twilight black and white vision, and the cones function only in bright daylight and are responsible for color vision.

But there are also differences - cats have three times as many rods as the human eye and fewer cones. So, although cats can distinguish a certain color in the daytime, colors are apparently not essential for their perception. In dim light, they see only in the black and white spectrum, but they can see much more clearly than we can.

Speaking of how evolution helped the primitive hunter, let's look at a few more key differences:

The pupils of cats are not round, but have the shape of a vertical slit, which allows them to react faster to light, as well as to accurately assess the distance to the victim and calculate the strength of the jump

The cat's eyes focus more slowly because the lens is hard. And when the pupils are narrowed - for example, in daylight - it is even more difficult for them to focus

Humans have a central fovea, a tiny depression in the center of the retina that specializes in recognizing details.  Only cones are concentrated here.  Cats instead have a "visual stripe" that performs a similar function but is densely packed with rods.  This is what gives cats the best vision in low-light conditions

Behind the retina, cats have a layer of light-reflecting cells called the tapetum. These cells work like a built-in flashlight, providing cats with an extra amount of light passing through the retina in low light conditions.By the way, this structure makes your cats' eyes "shine" when you take a picture of them with a flash