What does it mean when wildlife biologists say that “an eagle can see a rabbit in a field from miles away”? Does this imply that their vision is automatically more zoomed in? Do they have better than 20/20 vision, or is their vision simply clearer?

Question

What does it mean when wildlife biologists say that “an eagle can see a rabbit in a field from miles away”? Does this imply that their vision is automatically more zoomed in? Do they have better than 20/20 vision, or is their vision simply clearer?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Perhaps the eagle just spotted something that could have been a rabbit, and just flies down for a closer look. As he gets closer he sees it’s an animal like a wolf. And he veers off. No one interviews the eagle who’s been fooled. A hungry eagle is gonna check out everything that might be lunch; I’ll give him that. But resolving power in any optical system limits what can be identified for sure.