Why is it so hard for humans to move their eyes in different directions? (Like chameleons)
In: Biology
We have a system, in our brain (actually our brainstem), called [medial longitudinal fasciculus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medial_longitudinal_fasciculus). It’s a nervous tract connecting the nuclei of the nerves that allow your eyes to move. By action of that nervous tract, those nuclei are wired in a way that when you move one eye to the left, the other eye moves automatically to the left too. It’s an automatic system, it’s just wired that way. That tract has other functions too, it allows us not just to coordinate eye movements with each other, but also to coordinate the movement of our neck with our eyes.
Chameleons don’t have the same system in their brains.
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