2 ms·
> the rats are effectively as blind as the bat in the dark Are they? Aren't rats nocturnal in the first place, meaning evolution should have given them some be
by embedding-shape 1y ago
> the rats are effectively as blind as the bat in the dark
Are they? Aren't rats nocturnal in the first place, meaning evolution should have given them some benefit in that environment? AFAIK, rats have pretty OK contrast/motion detection even in low light situations.
I guess if "in the dark" means "low light" or "total darkness". You're probably right for "total darkness" but if it's "low light", I think the rats would "see" better than the bats.
- nortlov 1y agoYou might be right. The paper mentioned the rats preferred hunting near the light barrier but also mentioned they probably climbed the fabric for an aerial advantage (they didn’t seem to prefer hunting near the light barrier once the fabric was removed).
- neom 1y agoThat's right, rats eyes are mostly rod based, they are very optimized for contrast shifts in extremely low light. They're also mostly colour blind.