During the night, an owl can see clearly for about a mile, their resolution being much clearer than humans. It is a myth that owls can rotate their heads degrees, but they still have a very large field of view. Owls have a binocular vision of 70 degrees and they cannot move their eyes, but they can move their head an impressive degrees. So in total, they can see a mile away for degrees around themselves without moving their body.
The reason that owls can see so well is because of the types of receptors that they have in their eyes. Owls have a lot of rod receptors in their eyes, these receptors focus on black and white vision, meaning that they have very detailed vision, particularly in darkness. Owls have great vision, but they often hunt very small prey, so how far away are they able to see their prey?
Certain species of owls have been known to see prey as small as a mouse from half a mile away. However when hunting ,owls do rely heavily on their hearing, so it is difficult to tell how clearly an owl can see from this distance and how much of it is based off of hearing. During the night, it is thought that owls have been able to spot rabbits from between a mile to two miles away. This number is not confirmed and it does vary depending on the species of owl, but it is still a very impressive distance.
Humans also have rods, but we have a much smaller number than owls have. As a result, owls see 35 to times better than humans can in dim light. In fact, they have a greater number of photoreceptor light-sensitive cells or rod cells compared to human eyes. As a result, they have better night vision than us.
Contrastingly during the day, their quality of vision is affected badly due to too much of light that is required for them to see. Another one of the interesting facts is that their pupils do not shrink as ours in broad daylight so they close their eyes halfway to block some sunlight. When owls close their eyes halfway, they block out the sky and some of the sunlight, but can still see the ground perfectly. They may look sleepy or even half asleep when really they are wide awake and alert.
Sign in. Home Species Articles About. Binocular vision in owls. Cross-section of an owl eye. Owl skull showing the Sclerotic rings. Nictitating membrane over the eyes of a Young Great Horned Owl. References: Campbell, Wayne.
Axia Wildlife. Hollands, David. Reed Books. Yale University Press. Long, Kim. Many aquatic animals, such as alligators, frogs, sharks, and seals, have protective nictitating membranes. Other animals with nictitating membranes include camels, lemurs, and bears. An adaptation is passed from generation to generation. Also called the orbit and eye socket orbital cavity. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
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