An animal with pointed ears. The cutest wild animals
There is no limit to the perfection and diversity of nature. Throughout his life, a person more than once encounters miracles of nature that in fact are not such. Animals alone can amaze any person, because they are all so different. Some animals are famous for their unusual eyes, some for their microscopic size, and others for their fantastic colors. In today's article we will talk about animals with the most variegated colors.
Panther chameleon
photo: Scruffy Hound
In an incredibly short period of time, the panther chameleon can change many colors, ranging from green to bright red. Changing color is a means of protecting the chameleon. Interestingly, he himself cannot change color, since the change occurs as a result of changes in temperature, mood or light.
Red salmon
photo: Jon Deisher
A person's skin tone may change slightly, for example after sunburn or extreme embarrassment, but the skin cannot change from red to green. Sockeye salmon easily changes its color beyond recognition when changing environment. The main color of sockeye salmon is blue and silver, but during the spawning period it completely changes to red and green.
Paradise Bird
photo:Mohammed Fahad
This beautiful name the bird received because of its amazing appearance. To conquer the female he likes, the male will show off his incredibly beautiful plumage in front of her, dance, and, if necessary, even completely change his shape. Currently, these magnificent birds are on the verge of extinction as poachers today kill them for their amazing plumage.
Ocellated Tragopan
photo: Jan Harteman
One of the representatives of pheasants is able to amaze a person with its appearance alone. His fluffy bangs are orange-brown and his chest resembles a heart, on which he lies whale shark, look incredibly beautiful. If you want to see this beauty, you should go to the forests of South Asia, where birds live in large numbers. Another feature is a blue piece of skin that looks like feathers.
Herbal Sea Dragon
photo:Mike
photo:John K
The underwater world is so beautiful that sometimes it seems as if it is not real. One of the most vibrant and magnificent creatures underwater world is a sea dragon. These aquatic creatures are amazing in that they are able to reproduce about 250 eggs at a time, which are monitored by a male, and not a female, as is customary. The eggs are colored bright pink, which is quite rare in nature. The grass dragon itself is very similar in appearance to algae, so it often hides among them when it is necessary to hide from predators.
Blue-footed booby
photo:
Every male wants to get the best female, so sometimes he has to fight for her. The male blue-footed booby uses his bright blue paws for this purpose. If it happens that the males miss the mating season, their legs become much brighter. The bird itself is very beautiful, but it is extremely difficult to meet it, because it lives on Galapagos Islands and on some others with subtropical and tropical climates.
Clown fish
photo: Jonathan Beeston
At first glance, the fish seems very cute and funny, if not for the thick mucus that completely covers its body. Fish really need this mucus because it helps them survive rather than be eaten by larger predators. The fish is orange in color with white stripes.
Lesser flamingo
photo: KK Hui
Probably few people know that the luxurious pink color that flamingos have is actually the result of eating algae. In this case, the saying “you are what you eat” is very appropriate. Of all the representatives of the flamingo family, the smallest is the lesser flamingo, which can be understood by its name alone. Birds live in Africa and in some areas of Asia.
sailboat
photo:Perry
The sailboat's interesting blue stripes have nothing to do with fashion. Interestingly, during the hunt, the stripes begin to burn brightly, thereby confusing their prey. Well, the sailboat uses its original color very cleverly. If necessary, the sailfish can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, which makes it one of the best quicksand among other fish.
Danaid monarch
photo: Phuong Tran
Butterflies are very beautiful, which is why everyone loves them so much. One of the most beautiful butterflies can be called the butterfly with interesting name Danaid monarch. Its motley color helps it escape from predators, because in this way it shows that it is poisonous. The butterfly also differs from others in that it flies south every year, like many birds.
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According to the New York Times, which has been conducting various surveys and studies since 2006, looking at something cute stimulates the same pleasure centers in the brain as having sex. good food or cocaine.
So why spend money on illegal drugs when you can just open our article and enjoy the sight of the twenty cutest animals in the world? Please note that we did not include kittens playing in a box, puppies, or anything else indoors in this list. There are only wild animals here. But we will tell you in which hot jungles, arid deserts or deep oceans you can see them.
20. Sloth
Lethargic and serene, the sloth lives in tropical forests South America. But the sloth is not lazy. It's just very, very slow. So slow that this calm slowness makes him really cute.
Like its larger cousin, the pygmy hippopotamus has squat legs, a wide snout, and extremely advanced swimming skills. But unlike its cousin, the pygmy hippopotamus is not one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.
Without the threat of being grabbed by a huge mouth full of teeth, it's easy to admit that a hippopotamus - when it's dwarf-sized - can be quite cute.
The pygmy hippopotamus is an endangered species. Therefore, it is much easier to find it in zoos than in wildlife.
The incredible big-eyed loris is native to tropical jungles South-East Asia and is distinguished by such plush-looking, but strong legs. Lori can hang on a tree for several hours, holding on with only one limb. And he does this often.
However, despite its incredibly cute appearance, this animal is poisonous. The poison comes from glands in the elbow and is injected through the teeth. However, it is not powerful enough to save lorises from the illegal pet trade. Therefore, the animal is listed in the Red Book.
The chameleon is one of the most attractive reptiles. Perhaps due to its bulging eyes, sad twisted mouth, prehensile tail or very long tongue.
He also has the remarkable ability to change color depending on mood swings and the ability to move like a sailor during seas. Not the most efficient form of transportation, but certainly eye-catching.
About half of the world's chameleons can be found in Madagascar.
Meerkats come from the mongoose family and live in the Kalahari, Namib deserts, South Africa and parts of Angola.
Meerkats are cute not with their faces, which, although far from ugliness, are almost no different from the usual faces of mongooses. The beauty of meerkats is the way they stand, like a human - upright and modestly folding their paws on their stomachs.
Koalas are not as cute as they look. Experts say that the mood of these animals constantly fluctuates from moderately angry to completely angry.
The enduring popularity of koalas shows that in this day and age, good looks can dazzle and make one forget one's personality flaws.
Most koalas live in Australia. Tourists can get to know them closely—we hope they are the friendliest—at Lone Pine Koala Park.
Happy Feet, Madagascar, Mr. Popper's Penguins—these squat waterfowl have figured prominently in pop culture.
There are 17 species of sea penguins. Most are colored in variations of black and white, none can fly, and all are excellent swimmers. Surprisingly, penguins are also excellent runners.
Six species of these birds live in Antarctica, so the most enjoyable way to admire them is on a cruise. And the team of naturalists on board will help determine which specific penguins you are seeing - adélie, king or emperor.
Red pandas have very little in common with their cousins, the monochrome giant pandas.
With thick ringed tails like a raccoon, pointed ears, reddish-brown coloring and short legs, these arboreal animals were very difficult to classify.
There are very few of these cute animals left in nature. In addition, they are very shy, so meeting them is a great success. Your best bet would be to visit one of the panda research centers in China.
About four meters long, the white, baby-faced beluga whale, native to the cold seas of the Arctic, is about one-fifth the size of a blue whale.
With its relatively small size, unique face and bump on its forehead, the beluga whale is undoubtedly charming.
In captivity, beluga whales can chirp on command and blow bubbles. Those who would like to see these animals in the wild can contact the Canadian company Sea North Tours, which organizes tours to the beluga whale habitat.
Of course, a real-life clownfish can't talk or bulge its eyes comically, as Pixar showed. But she can do a bunch of other cool things! For example, changing gender.
You can find clownfish next to their underwater friends, sea anemones. The sea anemone's venom does not affect the bright orange fish and protects it from predators. And the clown pays for the protection by eating the remains of the anemone and maintaining cleanliness.
In the Philippines there is a marine reserve with a real city of clownfish, where you will meet hundreds of species of these fish.
Native South American rodents are a prime example of the dangers of being nice. For the sake of the plush skins of these animals, they were mercilessly hunted until their almost complete extinction in the 19th century.
Their skins are so soft because there are 50 hairs per follicle in chinchillas. In humans, for example, one follicle serves only one hair.
It is difficult to see chinchillas in the wild. They are few in number and live in the mountains. A relatively large population of these animals remains in the Las Chinchillas National Reserve in Chile.
Roe deer are chestnut colored, about the size of a goat, and are native to England.
According to the British, it is not difficult to meet roe deer while walking through the forest: “If you walk very calmly through a more or less dense forest no later than an hour after the start of sunrise, you will probably meet them.”
Wildwood Park in Kent is home to several species of deer. Including roe deer.
In captivity, bottlenose dolphins are praised for their intelligence and medicinal properties- swimming with dolphins is good for mental health. In the wild, dolphins can become aggressive and form gangs.
However, this doesn't matter to most people - dolphins are so adorable.
You can meet bottlenose dolphins in warm oceans Worldwide.
Alpaca is prized for its magnificent curly wool, which is used to make sweaters. Alpacas are also very sweet, although they can be quite short-tempered.
You can interact with alpacas at any of the many farms in Peru. And Machu Picchu is great place to observe wild alpacas.
The hummingbird is the tiniest bird in the world. And it is also the fastest - it flaps its wings 80 times per second.
Slightly larger than a bee, hummingbirds even act similarly. They help plants reproduce by carrying pollen, flitting from branch to branch, and drinking nectar. You can admire hummingbirds on one of the many tours around Cuba.
Sea otters are as smart as they are cute. They use rocks as tools to crack open clams and mussels, and sleep face up on the surface of the water, wrapped in kelp. Sea otters are social and swim together in groups of up to 100 individuals.
From Port Alice, British Columbia, travelers travel to day tours to experience wildlife. Including sea otters.
It is no coincidence that many animals on this list are in danger of extinction. After all, quite often part of what makes them cute is their soft, beautiful skin.
Harp seal pups are covered in fluffy, snow-white fur, making them traditional targets for the fur industry. Despite the fact that the import of their fur has been banned in Europe since 1983, and seal hunting in Canada was banned in 1987, hundreds of thousands of these animals still die at the hands of poachers every year.
You can admire harp seal pups during an excursion off the coast of Quebec.
Black and white coloring, a thick butt and an incredibly thoughtful look when eating bamboo are the qualities that make the panda so charming.
Although the panda has the digestive system of a carnivore, it eats like a herbivore, consuming up to 38 kilograms of bamboo a day. This makes the panda extremely dependent on its environment.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, only 1,600 of these cute bears remain in the wild. You can see them during the 12-day expedition Terra Incognita Ecotours.
The smallest primate in the world, the Philippine tarsier has all the basic qualities of a cute creature: huge eyes, a tiny body no larger than a human fist, and small paws with which it grabs tree branches.
Tarsiers are extremely unhappy in captivity. According to experts, these animals need at least one hectare of space, and captive tarsiers can even commit suicide.
Therefore, you can see tarsiers only in the reserve in the Corella Forest in the Philippines.
The fennec fox, the nocturnal animal of the desert, is immortalized in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince as a fox that wanted to be tamed.
The smallest of foxes - smaller than a domestic cat - with big ears and a tiny pointed muzzle, the fennec cat looks adorable and seductive. It is not surprising that it is the commercial trapping of fox cubs that poses the greatest threat to these animals, which everyone wants to take home.
For those who prefer to observe this pleasant creature in the wild, there are the Sahara and other dry, sandy areas North Africa from Morocco to Egypt.
Which animals do you think are the cutest?
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Ecology
According to scientists, eyes evolved about 540 million years ago as a common organ for detecting light. Today, vision is extremely important for many animals, including humans, and it has become very complex and diverse.
Take a look at some of the strangest and most incredible eyes in the animal kingdom.
12. Mountain goat
We all know that pupils are round, because round pupils are what we see most often (in humans), but this cannot be attributed to goats (and most other animals with hooves), which have horizontal slits that take on a rectangular shape when expanded. form. This gives goats the ability to see 320-340 degrees around them, meaning they can see almost everything around them without having to turn their head (for comparison, a person can see 160-210 degrees).
Consequently, animals with rectangular eyes can see better at night due to the presence of large pupils, which are very narrow during the day as they close to limit the access of light. Interestingly, octopuses also have rectangular pupils.
11. Trilobites
Trilobites were one of the most successful animal groups of all time, thriving for nearly 300 million years, long before dinosaurs inhabited the Earth. Although some species were eyeless, most had compound eyes similar to those of insects.
A strange fact about trilobite eyes is that the shell of their eyes was made of inorganic crystals of calcite (a mineral that is the main component of limestone and chalk). In its pure form, calcite is transparent, which is quite suitable as a material for the eye lens.
These crystal eyes are a unique feature of trilobites because the eyes of modern invertebrates are composed of the organic substance chitin. Due to their unusual composition, trilobite eyes were very stiff and unable to focus on anything; instead, trilobites adjusted focus using an internal eye mechanism, which not only resolved any potential problems associated with the mineral lens, but also gave the trilobites such good vision that they could keep both distant and near objects in focus at the same time.
If this didn't seem strange enough, some trilobites had eyes at the end of elongated eyelids, while others had eyes that were like overhanging "bandages" that protected them from bright sunlight. Because the surface of their eyes was made of calcite, the fossils are very well preserved, so more is known about the vision of trilobites than about any other historical creature in general.
10. Tarsiers
The tarsier is a small (squirrel-sized) nocturnal primate native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the only exclusively carnivorous primate in the world, feeding on lizards and insects. There are even cases where they catch birds during their flight. Their most remarkable feature is undoubtedly their huge eyes, which are the largest of all mammals in relation to body size.
If human eyes were the same proportions as tarsier eyes, they would be the size of grapefruits. These huge eyes sit deep in the skull and cannot rotate in their sockets. To compensate for this, tarsiers have very flexible necks and can rotate their heads 180 degrees, much like an owl, in search of potential prey.
Each eye weighs more than the entire brain, and this animal's vision is very sharp. Moreover, tarsiers have excellent night vision, suggesting that they can even see ultraviolet light. On the other hand, they appear to have very poorly developed color vision, as is the case with many nocturnal animals (including domestic cats and owls).
9. Unique animal chameleon
The chameleon is known for its ability to change color. This helps it communicate and demonstrate its intentions and moods to other chameleons (only a few species use color changes for camouflage). These lizards also have very unusual eyes, their eyelids merge and cover almost the entire eyeball, except for a small hole through which the pupil can see.
Each eye can move independently of the other, so the chameleon can simultaneously scan for prey and potential threats. This also suggests that the chameleon has a 360-degree field of view.
When a chameleon sees a potential prey (usually insects, although the largest species feed on mice and other small vertebrates), both eyes are aimed at it, thus achieving the effect of stereoscopic vision, which is very important in this context, considering that The chameleon captures prey by "firing" its tongue at high speed, a technique that requires precision in distance and depth perception. Chameleons have very keen eyesight, being able to see an insect from several meters away, and like tarsiers, they can see ultraviolet rays.
8. Amazing insect dragonfly
The dragonfly, which is arguably the most fearsome aerial hunter among insects, also has some of the most amazing eyes in the animal kingdom. They are so large that they cover almost the entire head, giving it the appearance of a helmet, and giving a 360-degree view.
These eyes are made up of 30,000 visual elements called ommatidia, each of which contains a lens and a number of light-sensitive cells. Their vision is excellent, they can distinguish a wide range of colors and polarized light, they are especially sensitive to movement, so they can quickly recognize any potential prey or enemy.
Some species of dragonflies that "hunt" at dusk have perfect vision in low light conditions, while we humans are barely able to see anything. Moreover, the dragonfly has three small eyes that can detect movement even faster than the big ones. These ocelli quickly send visual information to the dragonfly's central nervous system, allowing it to react in a fraction of a second.
Perhaps it is thanks to this feature that the origin of the unique acrobatic skills of insects can be explained. Although dragonflies are not the only insects with extra small eyes (some wasps and flies also have them), dragonflies have the most developed eyes.
7. Leaf-tailed gecko
The Satanic gecko (its second name) has rather surreal-looking eyes, their pupils are vertical and have a series of holes that widen at night, allowing these lizards to take in as much light as possible. The eyes also have many more light-sensitive cells than the human eye, giving animals the ability to detect objects and even see colors at night.
To give you an idea of just how amazing the gecko's night vision really is, it's simply worth noting that while cats and sharks can see six and ten times better than humans, leaf-tailed geckos and other nocturnal gecko species can see up to 350 times better than we can. dim light.
These animals also have strange, intricate patterns on their eyes that provide them with camouflage. These lizards have eyelids and their eyes are protected by a transparent membrane, which geckos clean with their tongue.
6. Colossal squid
Not to be confused with the better known but smaller giant squid. The colossal squid is the largest invertebrate known to science, and it also has some of the largest eyes in the animal kingdom. Each squid eye reaches a diameter of up to 30 cm, it can be larger than a plate, and the lens of its eye is the size of an orange. These huge eyes allow the squid to see in dim light, which is very useful for an animal that spends most his life hunting at depths of more than 2000 meters.
It should be noted that so far only juvenile colossal squid have been caught, but an adult can grow up to 15 meters in length. These giants have even bigger eyes. Unlike the giant squid, the colossal squid has stereoscopic vision, and has an excellent ability to accurately judge distances. An even more amazing feature is that each eye has a built-in "headlamp", an organ that can produce as much light as the squid needs to see its prey in the dark.
4. Four-eyed fish
Found in Mexico, Central America and South America, this fish, measuring up to 32 cm, usually lives in fresh or salt water (although it has been spotted on sea coasts on several occasions). It feeds mainly on insects, so it spends most of its time swimming near the surface.
Despite its name, the four-eyed fish actually has two eyes, each separated by a piece of flesh, with all four "parts" possessing their own pupils. This strange “device” allows the four-eyed fish to see perfectly both above and below the waterline, scanning for prey and predators.
The upper half of the eyeball is adapted for seeing in the air, while the lower half is designed for underwater vision. Although both halves of the eye use the same lens, the thickness of the shell is different in the upper and lower parts, therefore the behavior of the fish in the air and in the water is different.
This means that when the fish's four eyes are completely submerged in water, the upper halves of the eyes are out of focus. Fortunately, the fish spends most of its life at the surface of the water, and dives very rarely only for the purpose of protecting the upper halves of the eyes from dehydration.
4. Stem-eyed fly
These small but fascinating creatures are most often found in the jungles of Southeast Asia and Africa, however there are some species that are found in Europe and North America. They get their name from the long, stem-like structures located on the sides of the head, at the ends of which are the eyes.
Male flies, as a rule, have longer and larger stalks than female flies. In turn, females prefer males with the longest eyestalks. Males often stand facing each other during the mating season and compare their stems; the winner is the one with the longest stem.
Moreover, the male stalk-eyed fly has extraordinary abilities that help him increase the size of his eyes and stalks: they swallow air through the mouth and “push” it through the ducts into the eyestalks. They mostly do this during mating season.
3. Dolichopteryx longipes
This is a deep-sea fish that has one of the strangest eye structures known to science. Each eye has a side swelling called a diverticulum, which is separated from the main eye by a septum. While the main part of the eye has a membrane and functions that are similar to those of the eyes of other animals, the diverticulum has a curved composite "mirror" consisting of several layers of crystals.
This "mirror" collects much more light than the normal eye. The diverticulum reflects light and focuses it on the retina, allowing the fish to see both above and below at the same time.
This fish is the only known vertebrate that uses the mirror structure of the eye to simply see, much like a normal lens. It can be found in different parts of the world, but it is extremely rare to see it, because the fish spends most of its life at a depth of 1000-2000 meters. They feed on small crustaceans and plankton, and their body length is about 18 cm.
2. Spiders are ogres
These spiders are widely known for having big amount eyes (although their number varies greatly among different species, from 2 to 8). The Spider-Face Ogre has six eyes, but it looks like he only has two because the middle pair is significantly larger than all the others.
All this is created for the convenience of a nightlife lifestyle. With a slightly scary-looking face, spiders have excellent night vision not only thanks to their eyes, but also due to the presence of a layer of extremely sensitive cells covering them.
This membrane is so sensitive that at dawn it destroys itself, and at night a new one appears. This spider's face is unusual because it can see perfectly at night, but it lacks the reflective membrane that helps other spiders (and other predators) see in low light conditions. In fact, scientists believe that this spider actually has night vision that is better than that of a cat, shark, and even an owl (which can see up to 100 times at night better than man).
1. Crayfish are mantises
And finally, we come to the animal that has the strangest and most amazing eyes in the world. Crayfish - mantises - are not shrimp, but arthropods belonging to another species of crustaceans from the order Stomatopods. They are known for their aggressiveness and formidable weapons (they have very powerful and sharp claws that can easily cut a human finger or even break an aquarium glass with one blow). Mantis crayfish are voracious predators that live mainly in tropical waters.
Their eyes are very complex in structure, but similar to the eyes of a dragonfly. They also have ommatidia (about 10,000 per eye), however, in mantis crayfish, each specific part of the ommatidia has a specific function. For example, some of them are used to detect light, others to detect color, etc. Mantis crayfish have much better developed color vision than humans; their eyes have 12 types of color receptors, while humans have only 3.
Moreover, they have ultraviolet, infrared and polarized vision, making their vision the most complex of all animals. The eyes are located at the end of a special stalk and can move independently of each other, rotating 70 degrees. Interestingly, visual information is processed by the eyes themselves, and not by the brain.
Even stranger is the fact that each eye of the mantis crayfish is divided into three parts, allowing the arthropod to see objects from three different perspectives of the same eye. In other words, each eye has "trinocular vision" and full depth perception, meaning that if a cancer loses an eye, the remaining eye will still be able to judge depth and distance as clearly as a person can with their two eyes.
Scientists are just beginning to understand the secrets of vision, similar to that of the crab, the mantis, so this moment we can only imagine how this creature sees the world.
Scientists have concluded that the visual system in animals began to develop approximately 540 million years ago. At first it had a simple structure, but over time it became more complex and improved for each type of vision. For example, fish have excellent vision underwater, eagles from a great height can easily notice a small rodent on the ground, and cats can navigate perfectly in the dark.
Take a look at the selection of the most unusual animal eyes and see the uniqueness and wisdom of Mother Nature!
1. Mountain goat.
We are accustomed to the fact that the human pupil is round. But in most ungulates, in particular the mountain goat, it has a rectangular shape.
2. This pupil shape and horizontally oriented vision are the best for survival in mountain conditions. So, without turning its head, the goat sees around itself at 320-340 degrees. For comparison, a person sees only 160-200 degrees. Animals with this eye structure have excellent vision at night.
3. Trilobite.
Long before the advent of dinosaurs, the entire Earth was inhabited by marine trilobite arthropods. Paleontologists have counted about 10,000 species of these animals. At this time, this class is extinct.
4. Some of the representatives of this class were eyeless, but the majority had eyes unique in their structure. Their eye lens was made of calcite. This is a transparent mineral that is the basis of chalk and lime.
The shell of the eyes of modern invertebrates consists of chitin, a hard, translucent substance. The unusual composition of the eye gave these arthropods the ability to simultaneously keep objects at near and far distances in focus. The vision of trilobites had a horizontal or vertical orientation. But regardless of this, the animal saw only at a distance approximately equal to the length of its own body.
Depending on their habitat, the eyes of trilobites were located either on elongated eyelids or were covered with an eye lid that protected them from the bright sun. Paleontologists have studied trilobite vision in great detail, as calcite fossils are well preserved.
5. Tarsier.
Tarsiers are primates only 9-16 cm tall and weighing only 80-150 grams, living on the islands of Southeast Asia. Small size does not at all prevent the animal from being a predator. Moreover, tarsiers are the only primates in the world that eat only food of animal origin. They deftly catch lizards, insects and can even catch a bird during its flight. But their most important feature is their large eyes glowing in the darkness. Their diameter can reach 16 mm. In relation to body size, these are the largest eyes of any known mammal.
6. Locals They are still convinced that the tarsier is a messenger of evil spirits. And European tourists, seeing such a baby for the first time, shudder and then remember this meeting for a long time. Imagine yourself with huge, glowing eyes on a small round head. A second, and you are already looking at the back of the animal’s head. He simply turned his head...almost 360 degrees. Isn't that impressive?
In addition, tarsiers have excellent night vision. Based on this, scientists conclude that the animals recognize ultraviolet light.
7. Chameleon.
Many people know that a chameleon can change color. This is how he disguises himself and shows his mood and demands to other lizards. The vision of these animals is also unusual - tightly fused eyelids cover the entire eyeball, leaving only a small hole for the pupil.
The eyes of these lizards seem to fall out of their sockets and can rotate independently of each other through 360 degrees.
8. A chameleon's eyes look in one direction only when its gaze is fixed on its prey. The lizard feeds on insects and small rodents. The chameleon notices its prey at a distance of several meters. Like the tarsier, it is able to see ultraviolet light.
9. Dragonfly.
The dragonfly's visual organs are also unique and unusual. They occupy almost the entire head of the insect and are able to cover the space 360 degrees.
Each dragonfly eye consists of 30,000 tiny light-sensitive cells. In addition to two huge eyes, she has 3 more small eyes. This special vision makes the insect a dangerous aerial predator, capable of reacting to any movement literally in a split second.
10. There are also dragonflies that successfully hunt in twilight conditions. Under these same conditions, a person is unable to see much.
11. Leaf-tailed gecko.
The tropics of Madagascar are home to some very unusual geckos. It is very difficult to notice them, as the shape and color of this animal is very reminiscent of a dry leaf of a plant. Because of their large red eyes, these reptiles have received names such as “satanic” and “fantasy” geckos. The vision of these lizards is highly sensitive. Geckos are nocturnal animals. Even in complete darkness, they easily distinguish all objects and colors.
12. For comparison, cats see six times better than humans in dim lighting. Under the same conditions, geckos see 350 times better.
These reptiles owe such remarkable vision to the special structure of the pupil.
13. Colossal squid - a mystery of the ocean.
This is the largest invertebrate animal known to scientists. He is also the owner of the most big eyes among all representatives of the animal world. The diameter of its eye can reach 30 cm, and the pupil is the size of a large apple. Squids have 100 percent vision even in dim light. This is very important for him, because these animals live at a depth of at least 2000 meters.
14. But besides this, the eyes of these squids have a built-in “spotlight” that turns on in the dark and provides the necessary amount of light for a successful hunt
15. Four-eyed fish.
This is a small fish up to 30 cm long, living in the waters of Mexico and South America. Its main food is insects, so it can often be seen on the water surface.
16. Despite the name, the fish only has two eyes. But they are divided by the flesh into four parts. Each part has its own lens.
The upper part of the eyes is adapted for vision in the air, the lower part for underwater observation.
17. Stem-eyed fly.
Another unusual representative of the animal world. It got its name because of the thin, long, stem-like growths on the sides of its head. At the ends of the stems there are eyes.
Males and females have eyestalks of different lengths and thicknesses. Females choose males with the longest stalks.
18. During the mating season, males compare their stems. To win, they even use a trick - they inflate their eyes and stalks with air, which increases their size and, of course, the chances of finding the female they like.
19. Dolichopteryx longipes.
This is a small deep-sea fish up to 18 cm long.
20. Only Dolichopteryx has unique mirror vision. Its organs of vision work on the principle of a lens, and allow the little predator to see both surface and underwater space at the same time.
21. Spiders are ogres.
These are six-eyed spiders. But their middle pair of eyes is much larger than the others, so it seems that the spiders have two eyes.
Ogres are nocturnal predators. The spider's eyes are covered with a membrane of hypersensitive cells, providing excellent night vision.
22. Scientists believe that these spiders navigate in the dark at least a hundred times better than humans.
23. Crayfish are mantises.
These are the most dangerous representatives arthropods in tropical waters. With their sharp claws, they can easily leave a person without fingers. They are the owners of the most unique eyes in the world.
Their eyes consist of 10,000 hypersensitive cells. Each cell performs a strictly defined function. For example, some are responsible for determining light, others - color. This type Crayfish catch shades of colors 4 times better than humans.
They are the only ones with ultraviolet, infrared and polar vision at the same time. In addition, their eyes can rotate 70 degrees. It is also surprising that the information received in these crayfish is processed not by the brain, but by the eyes.
24. But that's not all. These crayfish have “trinocular vision.” Cancer's eye is divided into three parts, and he can see everything that happens from 3 different points of the same eye.
This is the most unique structure of the visual system. Scientists are still unable to fully explain it, much less recreate it. We can only marvel at the wisdom and uniqueness of nature.