Take a look around. Maybe you can turn your head to the left and right and move it up and down. You can move your eyes around in a bunch of different directions, and perhaps you can even cross them.
In the animal kingdom, there are lots of different kinds of eyes that see the world in different ways. Owls can’t move their eyeballs around in their eye sockets very well, but they do have pretty good night vision. They also have eyes that are positioned on the front of their heads like a lot of their fellow predators.
That’s what I found out from my friend Letty Reichart, who knows a lot about the study of birds, or ornithology. She earned her PhD in biological sciences at Washington State University and now teaches biology at the University of Nebraska Kearney.
While owls might not be able to move their eyeballs around like you can, they more than make up for this by turning their heads, which gives them a really good view of their environment.
“It’s a unique adaptation for owls to be able to do that,” Reichart said. “It’s part of their predatory lifestyle.”
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