KidZone!

Hey, Kids! I'm I.C. Gator!

SJEA has gotten together with the Cohanzick Zoo for "Eye See You at the Zoo", an ongoing learning celebration. Join us as we support New Jersey's first zoo with special events, activities and surprises!

Learn more about animals, the environment and the amazing world of
eyesight! Check back here to find out what's new at "Eye See You at the Zoo!"

 

Did you know that…?See You At The Zoo Logo

The fraction 20/20 is used to describe normal human vision. A hawk’s vision would measure closer to 20/5, which means the hawk can see things from 20 feet away that we would only be able to see from 5 feet away. 



See You At The Zoo Logo

Why does an animal's eyes glow at night?

Have you ever wondered why certain animal’s eyes—whether it’s your pet cat’s, a deer’s in the highway or a wolf’s on TV—glow spookily when caught in a beam of light in the dark?
 
It’s because of the “tapetum lucidum”, a carpet of mirror-like cells behind the animal’s retina, the layer of nerves at the back of the eye. It’s the retina that sends the messages to the brain about what the eye is seeing.
 
The tapetum lucidum improves an animal’s night vision by catching the light that passes all the way through the retina and bouncing it back, giving the animal another chance to “see” it. The tapetum lucidum greatly boosts an animal’s ability to see in the dark, which is why it’s mainly found in nocturnal animals.
 
Because different animals have different pigments in their eyes, they can give off
different color glows, from white to green to red. 


See You At The Zoo Logo

Are Bats Really Blind?

No, bats aren’t actually blind at all. There are more than
1000 species of bat in the world. All of them can see and most have very good eyesight. In fact, fruit bats depend completely on their vision to find food. Many smaller bats use something called echolocation to help them hunt their insect meals and find their way in darkness; they bounce very high-pitched sounds off objects, like a delicious fly or mosquito, to determine their size, shape, distance and location. Although nocturnal bats—ones that sleep during the day and are active at night—may have better night vision than day vision, they are far from blind.

 

dogs and catsDo Dogs and Cats See in Black-and-White?

It’s a myth that dogs and cats only see in black-and-white. Scientists tell us that both dogs and cats have at least some color vision.

Studies show that cats have some limited ability to tell the difference between colors, but are slow to learn how—probably because it’s not a very useful skill for them to have. Dogs also have a limited amount of color vision. They can tell the difference between red and blue, but have problems distinguishing green from red—good thing they don’t need to read traffic lights! In humans, this same kind of colorblindness is called deuteranopia.

Cats and dogs both depend much more on movement and contrast—differences
in brightness—than color to see objects.

See You At The Zoo Logo