Posted on 08/09/2015 9:31:55 PM PDT by PROCON
Pupils' shape and size can reveal whether your kitten is a hunter or the hunted, research shows, Zee News reports.
The study also said that species with pupils that are vertical slits are more likely to be ambush predators that are active both day and night.
"For species that are active both night and day, like domestic cats, slit pupils provide the dynamic range needed to help them see in dim light yet not get blinded by the midday sun," said lead researcher Martin Banks, professor of optometry at University of California-Berkeley.
The vertical slits of domestic cats and geckos undergo a 135 and 300-fold change in area between constricted and dilated states, while humans' circular pupils undergo a mere 15-fold change, the study said.
In contrast, those with horizontally elongated pupils are extremely likely to be plant-eating prey species with eyes on the sides of their heads.
Circular pupils were linked to "active foragers", or animals that chase down their prey.
For ambush predators with vertical-slit pupils, the authors noted the importance of accurately gauging the distance animals would need to pounce on their prey.
Researchers identified three cues generally used to gauge distance - binocular disparity, motion parallax and blur.
Binocular disparity and blur work together with vertically elongated pupils and front-facing eyes. Vertical-slit pupils maximise both cues, the researchers said.
However, vertical pupils are not equally distributed among ambush predators.
"A surprising thing we noticed is that the slit pupils were linked to predators that were close to the ground," said William Sprague, a postdoctoral researcher in Banks' lab.
"So domestic cats have vertical slits, but bigger cats, like tigers and lions, don't. Their pupils are round, like humans and dogs," he added. Vertical pupils appear to maximise the ability of small animals to judge distances of prey, said the findings published in the journal Science Advances.
"Cuz, we have to kill stuff, Duh!"
Kitteh Pingy
Kitteh is a very good hunter.
Mine were the best catnip mousie destroyers ever.
Kitteh is also a good pouncer. I’m in awe of kitteh.
I just want to know why ambush predators like housecats do the butt wiggle thing when it would seem to make them more obvious and give their location away ? The feline version of buck fever, anticipation?
I’ve seen that cats - with siblings or especially the females with kittens following along on the hunt- use the pale patch on the back of their ears to signal each other or the kittens following by flicking one or the other ear like my dad used to do with his hand when we went squirrel hunting as he was directing to get a squirrel to come around to his side of the tree. I’ve, and seen it with cat siblings hunting together, too. Bobcats and tigers have this patch.
And the tail in cats, has a come hither upward curl that straightens and stiffens right at the leap point. A sideways tail thrashing seems to tell the kittens to sit down.
Mine even make little announcements or half-meows as they make their leap- especially if the target is a bird, and most of the time the target is thus alerted and takes off, the cat’s cannot seem to stop it when they are excited.
Light comes in two natural varieties, and if one is to make living as a predator in daytime illumination you need to block out the horizontal electrical component which causes haze.
It is well known that vertical slit pupils minimize aberrations caused by vertical blades of grass. Surprised the optometrist never learned about that.
Awhile ago I saw a coyote walking across the busy street from a subdivision. A huge cat hanging from it’s mouth. I just had to laugh and thought “Yeah - you THOUGHT you were the big tough predator.”
I like cats well enough - just not outside cats. I think I’m still holding a grudge from when I was a child and the neighbor’s cat wiped out the bunny nest in my backyard.
That is a pouncer with an added butt wiggle.
:)
Cats are just a race of super intelligent snakes living in bionic fur covered suits.....
That purring...that is the hum of servos and gears you are hearing.
I heard that they wiggle their butts and thrash their tails to try to get their prey to move. Cats see the prey better when they’re moving.
I’ve wondered the same thing, but I think I’ve got it.
When my cats have a bird on the other sde of the screen, they do the butt wiggle right before they pounce then freeze. The bird discounts that motion as something natural. Like the wind.
Then, when the animal strikes, they get up to a second more of movement before the animal reacts. They were already desensitized to motion from that area as ‘nothing to bother with’.
So the cats give them something to focus on then discard before the actual strike. That extra second means all the difference in the world.
lol
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