That one looks like it’s both. Not sure their eyes can turn that far to the sides, but the sockets seem to be positioned for both good focus ahead and a wide peripheral.
It just looks that way because they’ve got very narrow heads. Its much clearer on owls, which have very broad faces, that birds of prey have fully forward facing eyes.
My point is that they’re entirely forward facing. Calling it a mammal rule isn’t really accurate. It’s about whether or not the animal needs to judge distance to attack. Sharks use their vision to scan for prey above and below them, but they use their other sense to attack. Hawks and cats have a significantly different sense of vision, but both need to be able to accurately judge distance with their eyes when attacking.
Those eyes are not forward-facing in the same way our eyes, or the eyes of a wolf, are forward-facing. And I said that the statement is mammal-centric, not that it can never be true for any other animals than mammals.
Sorry, it was a joke to show off a goofy-looking snake. I’m pretty sure their eyes are actually positioned like that because they are fossorial, I don’t think snakes rely on their eyesight much at all.
Yet another example of why people need to learn to use the word “mammal” instead of “animal” when they mean “mammal”.
Birds of prey have entered the chat.
That one looks like it’s both. Not sure their eyes can turn that far to the sides, but the sockets seem to be positioned for both good focus ahead and a wide peripheral.
It just looks that way because they’ve got very narrow heads. Its much clearer on owls, which have very broad faces, that birds of prey have fully forward facing eyes.
They are significantly more forward-facing than the eyes of, say, a pigeon.
My point is that they’re entirely forward facing. Calling it a mammal rule isn’t really accurate. It’s about whether or not the animal needs to judge distance to attack. Sharks use their vision to scan for prey above and below them, but they use their other sense to attack. Hawks and cats have a significantly different sense of vision, but both need to be able to accurately judge distance with their eyes when attacking.
But the Arabian sand boa is well known to be the most predatory of snakes:
Those eyes are not forward-facing in the same way our eyes, or the eyes of a wolf, are forward-facing. And I said that the statement is mammal-centric, not that it can never be true for any other animals than mammals.
Sorry, it was a joke to show off a goofy-looking snake. I’m pretty sure their eyes are actually positioned like that because they are fossorial, I don’t think snakes rely on their eyesight much at all.
Well, seeing this goober has been delightful. Silly looking creature.
Isn’t is also a generalisation rather than a rule?