Cats’ Eyes

Being one of the world’s more preferred domestic pets, cats remain to be fascinating creatures, felines whose physical traits have made them the subject of countless lore, myths and legends.

From tales delving into the cat’s ascribed “nine lives”, to countless stories focusing on the cat’s inherent ability to always land on their feet, allusions and alliterations to the cat’s natural characteristics are quite common in their telling, standing as a testament to how popular cats are.

The 1988 released novel by Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye, though not exactly about cats, takes a “versatile” look at the signs of the times in between post World War II Canada until the 1980s, a title which is apt for the story’s overall theme, given the cat’s versatile and enhanced vision and given the story’s overall theme on observations and sentiments – something which cats are known to occasionally do from time to time.

As it is common knowledge that cats can see in the dark, the fact that cats’ eyes are more tuned for motion detection is not as popular as its ability to see in the dark is, but it remains to be a fact that is true in cats.

Also, apart from the cat’s motion detection and low-light seeing capacities, it has long been argued that cats are colorblind, a fact which had only recently believed to be false. Recent studies note that cats can actually distinguish different colors from one another, which basically translates to the fact that they can tell blues from reds.

Also, the cat’s binocular vision is also well established, something that greatly contributes to their standing as efficient hunters. Though they have limited peripheral vision, their visual senses are backed by an acute sense of hearing, which works in tandem in allowing them to detect movements and sounds easily.

But when talking about cats’ eyes, it is in their “paranormal sights” which is considered to be more interesting by many, one that is backed by the fact that a cat has what is called an opaque third eyelid, which many consider to be part of its “third eye”.

Though factual studies delving into a cat’s third eye aren’t handy, the fact remains that the cat’s eyes remain to be one of their more notable and well regarded physical traits and characteristics.