How does having a non-circular pupil affect the way an animal sees?
In: Biology
Predator animals (meat eaters) don’t run away as much, they chase! So when you’re chasing you need really good sight from far away. Like a hawk! This is why the pupils in their eyes are vertical. They can focus in (push hands together side to side to show the pupil being squished)
Plant-eaters, sometimes called prey animals need to see wide spaces. They never know where the meat eaters will come from to try to eat them! So the pupil for them is squished down like this (push hands top to bottom to show pupil being squished) so they can see all around them a lot better.
You and I, we are humans. See we have a circle pupil (draw a circle with finger in the air) because we are both a meat eater, and a plant eater. We need both to survive! So when we are running away, we have good sight of all around us, up and down. But when we are chasing animals or hunting, we also need a very good sight from far to be able to see the animal we want to catch.
Latest Answers