How do animals see the world?
This is the question that Lensbest, a German company, set out to answer on the occasion of International Biodiversity Day, May 22.
Specializing in the sale of optical products, Lensbest has therefore developed a simulator that allows you to see the world through the eyes of several animals. Thanks to this online tool, you can easily slip into the skin of a dog, a cat, a snail but also a bee to change your perspective.
The operation of the simulator is childish! Just select a 360° image on the site (you have the choice between a paradise beach, a street and the interior of a house) and select the animal species by which you want to observe the world.
- © Screenshot from Lensbest website -
How does the dog see?
Despite the legend that persists, you will quickly realize, using the simulator, that the dog does not see the world in black and white. We have known since the XXth century that our canine friends do indeed perceive colors but in a different way from ours. Basically, we can say that dogs perceive colors in the same way as a colorblind human being. Thus, our dogs are able to perceive blue and yellow tones but red light which appears dark to them and green tends to merge with white.
Dogs also have much lower visual acuity than humans. It is thus estimated that the dog has an acuity of 2 to 3 tenths in each eye. In other words, this means that the dog sees the world as a myopic person who would not wear his glasses but he is, on the other hand, much more efficient than us to perceive minute movements, even at a great distance.
In the dark, dogs also have much better vision than humans due to more specific photoreceptors, rods, on their retina.