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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!tellab1!barth
From: barth@tellab1.UUCP (Barth Richards)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: The six senses of a cat
Message-ID: <612@tellab1.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 17:59:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: tellab1.612
Posted: Fri Oct  4 17:59:21 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 14:43:04 EDT
References: <160@cadsys.UUCP> <4371@alice.UUCP>
Reply-To: barth@tellab1.UUCP (Barth Richards)
Followup-To: net
Distribution: net
Organization: Tellabs, Inc., Lisle, IL
Lines: 43
Keywords: cat's senses

In article <4371@alice.UUCP> ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) writes:
>>  I read in net.bizarre that cats are
>> deaf and partly blind - in the sense that they cannot hear and that they
>> cannot see stationary things.
>
>I don't believe that cats cannot see stationary things -- if so, they
>would bump into things.

True, cats can see stationary things. However, they rely on the detection of
movement more than primates (like us) do.

Primates have stereoscopic vision. This means that their eyes work in close
coordination to produce a three dimensional image. Other animals do not have
much in the way of depth perception, though many of them do have higher powers
of sight, in other areas, than primates. For example, dogs can see much better
in low light than we can.

So, this lack of depth perception in animals other than primates means that
they sometimes find it difficult to distinguish a stationary object from its
surroundings, but have no such difficulty when it is moving.

Of course, most mammals (again, excluding primates) do not have color vision.
This adds to this difficulty in seeing stationary objects, in that being able
to distinguish colors would help to distinguish objects from surroundings.

For example, if a red ball is laying among green bushes, being able to
distinguish between red and green would help you see the ball. If, however,
both colors appear to you as grey, it would be harder to see the ball among
the bushes, since you would be relying on shape alone to make the distinction
between the ball and the bushes around it.

Thought ya might like ta know.


				       Barth Richards
				       Tellabs, Inc.
				       Lisle, IL

				       "Ford, do you realize that robot
					can hum like Pink Floyd?"
                                       -Arthur Dent

p.s. ALWAYS take what you read in net.bizarre with a pound of salt.


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