How do cats see the world? Visual comparison of cat and human vision

Humans have lived side by side with cats since time immemorial. But how much do we really know about our furry friends? Have you ever wondered how cats see the world around them? Artist Nikolai Lamm decided to look into the matter and spent as much as 10 years researching to clearly demonstrate what a cat’s eyesight looks like.

In the process, Lamm consulted with veterinarians and animal vision experts to ensure that the final image was as close to reality as possible. For contrast, the artist placed pictures from the face of a man and a cat side by side – the difference is immediately evident.

The first photo shows the difference in the field of view of humans and cats. The vision of caudates is more perfect here – its angle is all 200 degrees, while a person has 180 degrees.

But in terms of sharpness and clarity of vision, representatives of the cat family are much inferior to bipeds. All cats are nearsighted, they can clearly see an object only at a distance of a little more than 6 m, and people – at 30-60 m.

With the perception of color, people also have an order of magnitude better. The average person would easily mistake a cat’s vision for color blindness. Cats see blue and green colors, but they don’t have much with shades of red – they are perceived as green, blue or even purple. So cats in principle distinguish much less colors and shades.

But a cat’s vision is not like a human’s in the dark. Behind the retina of a cat’s eye, there is an additional structure called the tapetum, which improves visibility at night. It works like a mirror, reflecting light back to the photoreceptors and allowing you to see your surroundings better. It is because of the tapetum that the eyes of cats glow so strongly in the dark.