Many friends who like reptiles like lizards will be fascinated by their narrow pupils and glass-like eyes; friends who are opposed to reptiles will instead be peeped by the protruding eyeballs, which are like aliens. Made me inexplicably scared.

In appearance, lizard eyes are roughly similar to human eyes, with pupils, irises and corneas. The pupils will expand and contract according to the situation to allow more or less light to enter.

In addition, lizards also have a structure called a scleral (bone) ring. This is a ring of bone around the eye that supports and protects the eye. Most vertebrates have scleral (bone) rings, only mammals and crocodiles do not.

In practical terms, lizards may have the best overall vision of all reptiles. Human beings cannot compare with it.

#01

Lizard eyes can see a wider range of colors than ours, including colors in the ultraviolet spectrum

This is because there are four types of lizards of cones (of which humans and other primates only have three), have photoreceptors that are particularly sensitive to ultraviolet light. As a result, lizards can distinguish between shades of color that appear to be exactly the same to humans. It can be said that in the eyes of lizards, the world is more vivid and colorful. Maybe lizards are capable of lipstick colors that straight men cannot distinguish~

This characteristic of four-color vision also allows lizards to operate in low-light conditions. See better below (although most lizards are diurnal reptiles). This is especially helpful for many nocturnal lizards with erect pupils, such as the ciliary geckos, whose color vision in the dark is hundreds of times more sensitive than humans.

Lizards can also easily focus on distant and near objects, as well as track fast-moving animals to help hunt for prey.

This is thanks to their ability to flex the eye muscles around the lens to focus on different objects.

In addition, lizard-like reptiles even have a "third eye" called the parietal eye.

The parietal eye is very small and primitive, but is able to sense changes in light and assist in hormone production and body temperature regulation. In most reptiles, the parietal eye is a tiny, gray, pinprick-sized spot located between the eyes on the top of the head.

Although the lizard's parietal eye is poorly developed, it can capture subtle changes in light and dark and measure the length and brightness of each day and night cycle. The parietal eye has a direct connection to the pineal gland, which in turn regulates the lizard's circadian rhythm and hormones.

The parietal eye also serves as a compass for many lizards. The parietal eye can see polarized light from the sky, helping lizards use polarized light to navigate, determine direction and find familiar areas.

#02

Among all lizard species, chameleons are the most unique Vision is the most developed.

In addition to being able to focus clearly on things both far and near, seeing colors in the ultraviolet spectrum, and possessing excellent night vision, the chameleon's eyes can move independently of each other, giving it Nearly 360-degree field of view, you can even switch between monocular and binocular vision at will! This means that the chameleon can switch at will between seeing with one eye at a time and with both eyes at a time.

It must be said that lizard eyes are a miracle of evolution. The vision of ordinary diurnal lizards (such as bearded dragon lizards) is much better than that of us humans. The visual experience of reptiles such as chameleons and diurnal geckos is even more difficult to imagine.