Kitty night vision, amazing!

[terianne]

One night one of the kitties was sleeping with us on the bed.  She woke me up because she was pawing at the wall behind the bed.  It was totally dark in the room.  I turned on the light to see what she was so interested in and to my surprise, there was a big spider right over my head!

Now how did she see that in almost total darkness!  Cats are amazing!  I had no idea they could see in the dark like that.  

 

[Draco]

their night vision is certainly amazing! Not only she saw the spider, she probably heard it too. 

Good thing that spider did not fall on your head while you slept. I'd be screaming!

 

[catspaw66]

Check out this article.    www.cathealth.com/vision/feline-vision

The cat gives up the ability to see millions of colors to have better night vision. Personally, I would rather see the colors and carry a flashlight.

 

[jcat]

Check out this article.    www.cathealth.com/vision/feline-vision

The cat gives up the ability to see millions of colors to have better night vision. Personally, I would rather see the colors and carry a flashlight.

An artist recently worked with animal ophthalmologists to try to show how cats see the world. They came up with these photos:
What Do Cats see?

Our retinas have many more cones than cats, especially in the area of the fovea (which is all cones and no rods). This gives us fantastic day vision with lots of vibrant colors and excellent, detailed resolution. Dogs and cats have many more rods, which enhances their ability to see in dim light and during the night. They have no fovea, but an “area centralis” that, though has more cones than other areas of the retina, still has more rods than cones. The increase in rods also enhances their “refresh rate”, so that they can pick up movements much faster (very helpful when dealing with small animals that change direction very quickly during a chase). These differences also help them to have great night vision, an excellent ability to pick up and follow quick movements, but at the cost of less vibrant color, with less detailed resolution.