A New Perspective
I've always wondered why rats look kind of cross-eyed like in this picture of Atlas. Until a few days ago, I didn't know why. But I saw on a video someone had posted on Facebook about how different animals see (see video at 1:30). Apparently, rats can actually move their eyes completely independent of one another. Weird to think about, because it would be like watching a double screened television with different angles of the same object or area. Or like playing two people playing against each other in a Mario Cart.
Rats don't have very good vision to begin with, and they only have about 20/600 vision, seeing only somewhat clearly up to a few feet away. Which is why you often see them standing on their back legs, or swaying their head side-to-side, trying to get a better view of what they are looking at.
They do see some color, though, and aren't completely colorblind as many people believe. They have the ability to see greens, blues, and ultraviolets in low saturations.
For not having the best sight, they still get around really well. All of their other senses (whiskers, hearing, and smell) make up for their lack of vision. They always know when I'm coming over to their cages to see them, when they are about to get fed, and they navigate themselves around when they are out during their free time without bumping into anything.
I've been keeping these guys as pets for more than a year now, and I'm still learning about them. They are such interesting little animals!
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