The curious feline vision, how do cats really see?

Cats' eyes are enigmatic. Their shape and color have been the subject of myths and beliefs throughout history and there is a lot of talk about their curious vision: whether or not they distinguish certain colors, whether they are able to see in the dark, whether or not they focus well on distances. short... But do you really know how cats see?

Although cats' eyes have a lot in common with those of humans due to the fact that they are mammals, these felines have a very different perspective of the world than ours. Some peculiarities that respond to their evolution as the hunting animals that they are. We tell you the curiosities about cat vision that you probably didn't know.

No vision the first week

Kittens' vision is a great virtue, but they cannot have it until the seventh day after going out into the world, since they are born with their eyes closed and keep them that way for a whole week. While the senses of smell, taste and touch begin to develop during the first days of life, sight and hearing do not do so until the second week. From then on, both senses will begin to evolve exponentially; Adult cats have a sense of smell that is 30 times more sensitive than that of people, hearing that is up to four times sharper and vision that allows them to see up to eight times better than humans, especially in low-light environments.

Wider field of view

If you look closely, cats' eyes are much larger than other animal species. An evolution that has helped it improve its peripheral vision, having a much wider field of vision than that of human beings, especially when catching its prey. According to scientists, the kitten's eye controls a viewing environment of 200 degrees compared to that of a person, which only reaches 180 degrees. It is the same reason why they have binocular vision, a characteristic that allows them to expand the field of vision, something essential for predators.

They perceive colors

There is a widespread popular belief that cats see in black and white, but this is not the case. A kitten is able to perceive certain colors, but they are partially color blind, since they are only able to clearly distinguish blues and yellows, while, for example, they see reds and greens as gray. However, it has been proven that cats, like their dog companions, are capable of capturing ultraviolet light, which is why you sometimes detect strange behavior in your kitten if he or she is looking at something that you yourself cannot see.

night walkers

Despite their deficiency in perceiving colors with the brightness and saturation with which people see them, the evolution of their vision has made cats capable of seeing gray tones in a dark environment. Always making it clear that cats are not able to see in absolute darkness, they do have the quality of distinguishing their surroundings perfectly in low light conditions, when, for example, night falls. This characteristic occurs thanks to a type of mirror that they have in their retina, which is capable of reflecting light and amplifying it. It is the so-called tapetum lucidum , the part that makes your eyes shine in the dark and that allows them to continue their activity when you are already enjoying a restful sleep with the house lights off.

torn pupils

It is one of the main characteristics of cats' eyes and is that, unlike the black dot that humans and other animals have, they have a kind of slit that allows them to better control the light that enters their eyes. eye, moderating the opening of the pupil according to its needs and the light in the environment.

Your cat needs glasses

You should know that your cat is farsighted. Yes, that means that if you were a human being you would need glasses to see well up close. The little furry ones do not focus well on objects that are less than a palm and a half away from their eyes. The closer you have an object, the worse you will perceive it. But although this may seem like an important deficiency to you, it is not so important for your cat since its vision is adapted to its need to hunt and what it will never do is stalk prey so closely.

Surely you have been surprised by some of these peculiarities of cat vision, so now it is your turn to look at those curious attributes of your kitten and realize that what he has is actually super vision!