The Eyes of an Owl

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4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2023

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The better to see you -- and that little mouse!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is birdnode.
0:10.2	An owl's gaze is uniquely penetrating.
0:14.0	Peer into an owl's face.
0:16.1	There's something almost human about its large, forward-facing eyes.
0:21.0	Just how big are those eyes?
0:22.8	They are astonishingly large in proportion to the size of the owl's head.
0:27.6	A great-great owl, which stands two feet tall and weighs two and a half pounds,
0:32.4	has eyes larger than those of most humans.
0:43.2	And while an owl's eyes may look human, their capabilities are superhuman.
0:49.2	Enormous eyes help owls to see in near darkness.
0:53.2	An owl's retinal anatomy is similar to that of cats,
0:56.5	which rival owls in seeing in dim light.
1:00.4	Owls see well in daylight too, but their color vision is probably very limited.
1:05.1	And the evolution of such large eyes has required a behavioral compromise.
1:10.1	An owl's eyes are fixed in their sockets,
1:13.1	so the bird must rotate its neck to look around.
1:16.8	One ornithologist has described owls' heads as little more than brains with
1:21.5	raptorial beaks and the largest possible eyes and ears attached.
1:30.4	To see a photo of this bird and all we feature on the show, come to our website,
1:35.7	birdnote.org. Sign up for the podcast too. I'm Michael Stein.

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