Discover 7 Weird, Cute and Crazy Eyes From The Animal Kingdom
Take a look at some of the weirdest, cutest, and crazy eyes from the animal kingdom. Which of these souls would you like to look into, and which ones would you run away from?
Eyes are the window to the soul…aren’t they?
Have you ever thought of how important our eyesight is in reading and relating to things…well in the animal kingdom the eyesight is a matter of life or death for many!
Genetically, these animals have adapted their eyes and eyesight to their environments so that they may survive and get food.
Some of them are truly amazing while others are just crazy eyes. The wonders of nature just keep surprising us with extra ordinary things.
Have a look at these cute and crazy eyes along with a few facts about 7 of the animals, who have really outdone themselves when it comes to winning the gold medal in the category of eyes and eyesight.
1. Tarsier
Alias: Gremlin, Yoda, Gollum?
The Tarsier is a small, cute or maybe scary looking primate…what do you think?
No matter what, they have some of the coolest eyes of all.
Each of its crazy eyes are the size of its brain. For us humans that would mean walking around with eyes the size grapefruits. And this makes the Tarsier win the contest of the mammal that has the largest eyes compared to its body size.
And what do you do when you can’t rotate your eyes in the eye socket like a chameleon? Well then you just turn your neck 180 degrees instead. What a smart little creature and so inspirational.
2. Giant Squid
“I SEE YOU!”
Thinking “Kraken”? Wonder why there are so many stories about the giant from the deep, with long arms, huge eyes and a wide, gaping mouth with sharp teeth? Well looking at a giant squid kind of demystifies that. They simply do look like “Kraken”.
They have the largest eyes of all animals, that measures nearly 11 inches/28 cm across, similar to a soccer ball and its lenses are the size of lemons. And on top of that the eyes glow in the dark (phosphorescent), similar to headlights, in order for them to easily spot their prey in the dark.
3. Gecko
Yuck! Imagine licking your eyeballs clean with your tongue all the time, because you don’t have any eyelids? Well that’s the life of a leaf-tailed gecko.
Instead of the eyelids they then have an incredible pattern in their crazy eyes that camouflages them.
They don’t have round pupils like ours, but vertical pupils with a bunch of pinholes that enlarge at night. That way the maximum amount of light enters, which is why their night vision is phenomenal. We might not have to lick our eyeballs, but they have the benefit of seeing 350 times better than us!
4. MANTIS SHRIMP
The mantis shrimp wins the medal for the most complex eyesight system of all creatures in the animal kingdom.
Their crazy eyes are so complex that they have 12 colour receptors, we humans only have 3 to comparison. On top of that then the shrimp also has ultraviolet, infrared and polarised light vision. Basically, we humans can’t even comprehend all those colours that a mantis shrimp can!
Their eyes are placed on top of long stalks that can be rotated individually. And even better, their eyes are divided into three sections (trinocular) in order to see objects using only one of them.
5. SIX EYED SPOOKFISH
“Mirror, mirror who is the spookiest of them all?”
Spooky or not, this transparent fish is just weird looking.
Most deep-sea fish have developed to make the most of what little light there is in the deep blue sea.
But how weird and smart is it, that instead of seeing light reflected in the water, then they actually have “mirrors” in the eyes reflecting the light!
Each eye is divided into two, that makes the eye look like four eyes. One point upwards and the other downwards, these downward-facing eyes use “mirrors” which create a huge amount of tiny crystals that collect and focus light.
And here comes the third pair of eyes that are placed behind the others and divert light outwards to the other set of eyes.
6. Chameleons
Chameleons eyes are simply amazing. How smart is it to have an eyelid covering the entire eye, leaving only a tiny pinhole to see through. On top of that, each eye can look in different directions, viewing 360 degrees. Quite a useful feature being a desert animal looking for food, and at the same time trying to avoid becoming some preditors dinner.
7. The goat
“ What..the goat?”
Why on earth is a domestic animal listed here?
Well, have you ever thought of how weird a goats eyes are when you look into them?
The pupils are not round like ours, nor are they vertical like cats for instance, but they are actually rectangular and horizontal. Their eyes do not have a dark iris like most animals, making the black squared weird-looking pupils stand out even more.
Since the goats often are prey to larger animals and walking around eating with their heads down, then these eyes are lifesavers. They give the goats a panoramic view, since the eyes can rotate, giving them a 320 degrees view, and thereby no blindspots in front either. So a goat is not that easy to sneak up upon, after all.
