12 Animals With Incredible Eyesight, Animal Sake

Which animal has the largest eyes in the world? Do dragonflies see in slow motion? Are big cats colorblind? AnimalSake answers all these questions, and describes the animals with the keenest eyes in the world.

An Honorable Mention

The largest eyes in the world belong to the colossal squid, the largest invertebrate on Earth. Fully-grown squids in the wild have eyes that are more than 30 cm (one foot) across! Those enormous eyes help the squid see in its deep, dark ocean home.

The human eye is said to have a resolution of 576 megapixels, which beats most animals. But when it comes to the best eyesight in the world, many animals leave us far behind.

Vision is probably the most important tool in the wild. Predators have sharp, powerful eyes to lock onto a single target and swoop in fast. Prey animals have developed wide-angle vision that is extra sensitive to movement, so they can spot danger coming before it is too late.

Birds (and birds of prey especially) depend on their eyes more than almost any other sense. Most birds have a weak sense of smell and hearing, so their eyes really do have to do the heavy lifting.

The sense of vision has developed in countless different ways across the animal kingdom. It is almost impossible to rank animals by eyesight alone, because every type of eye serves a different purpose. A chameleon's swiveling eyes and a cat's night-vision eyes are both extraordinary, they are just built to do completely different jobs.

Here is a list of animals with some of the most remarkable and finely tuned eyesight on the planet.

Animals with Incredible Eyesight

Birds of Prey

Bald eagle close-up showing piercing golden eyes — Bald Eagle, one of the sharpest-eyed hunters in the world.

Peregrine falcon in sharp focus, alert expression — Peregrine Falcon, the fastest animal on Earth uses precision vision to guide its 200 mph dives.

Birds of prey (such as eagles and falcons) have some of the best eyes in the animal kingdom. These birds are built to spot prey from high in the sky, then swoop down fast to catch it before the animal even knows what has happened.

Their eyesight is among the sharpest of any living creature. Some species can spot something as small as a rabbit from more than a mile away! Like most predators, their eyes face forward. This gives them excellent binocular vision, which is perfect for judging exactly how far away their prey is. Not all birds of prey use the "soar high, swoop low" style of hunting, but every single one depends heavily on those powerful eyes.

Owls

Barn owl with large forward-facing dark eyes — Barn Owl, the nighttime hunter whose eyes are larger than its brain.

Owls are technically birds of prey too, but they are so special they deserve their own section. Owls have some of the largest eyes relative to body size of any animal. Unlike most nocturnal creatures, they do not use echolocation or the reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum to help them see in the dark. Instead, they rely on sheer eye size to soak up as much light as possible, those eyes are actually larger than the owl's brain!

Even so, the eyes themselves are not the whole story. Owls' brains are incredibly good at picking out tiny details from a blurry but bright image. Interestingly, owls do not actually rely on their eyes most when hunting, their hearing is so precise that it does most of the work in the dark.

Different owl species have been grouped together here, since the differences in eyesight between them are likely very small and mostly due to their different habitats.

Big Cats

Bengal tiger walking forward, pale amber eyes visible — Bengal Tiger, a night hunter whose reflective eye-layer amplifies even the faintest moonlight.

Cats have excellent night vision, and big cats (tigers, lions, jaguars, and leopards) take this to an extreme. They can hunt successfully under the cover of darkness thanks to a reflective layer behind their eyes called the tapetum lucidum. This layer bounces light back through the eye a second time, making the most of every tiny bit of available light.

African leopard resting, bright amber eyes facing forward — Leopard, forward-facing eyes give big cats superb binocular depth perception for judging the distance to prey.

Big cats also have far more rod cells in their eyes than humans. Rod cells help detect light and movement, so big cats are much more sensitive to dim conditions than we are. However, they have fewer cone cells (the cells that detect color) so they can only tell apart a very limited range of colors. In a way, they trade color vision for night vision.

As with owls, differences between big cat species are grouped together here, since the eyesight adaptations are very similar across the group.

Prosimians

A tarsier clinging to a branch, enormous golden eyes dominating its tiny face — Tarsier, its massive eyes cannot move in their sockets, so the tarsier rotates its entire head instead.

Prosimians (a group that includes lemurs, tarsiers, bushbabies, and lorises) are distant relatives of apes and humans. Most of them are active at night, and they have evolved huge eyes to help them see in low light. All prosimians except the tarsier also have the tapetum lucidum for extra help in the dark.

Dragonflies

Close-up of a dragonfly perched on a stem, large iridescent compound eyes visible — Dragonfly, those bulging compound eyes cover nearly the entire head, giving almost 360° vision.

Dragonflies are expert hunters among insects, and their eyes are the most amazing found on any insect. They have large compound eyes that wrap around most of their head. On top of that, they have three smaller eyes called ocelli. The ocelli do not form detailed pictures, but they detect and react to motion incredibly fast, much faster than human eyes ever could.

This is why people say dragonflies see in slow motion. That is not quite right, but it is close. A dragonfly can track and intercept a small flying insect in mid-air with almost perfect accuracy, a hunting success rate that most animals can only dream of.

Want to learn more? See our full guide on dragonfly habitat and what dragonflies eat to discover how these vision superstars use their eyesight to hunt.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which animal has the best eyesight in the world?

Eagles and other birds of prey are considered to have the sharpest eyesight, capable of spotting a rabbit from over a mile away. Mantis shrimp have the most complex eyes, seeing 12 color bands and circular polarized light.

Do dragonflies really see in slow motion?

It's not entirely accurate, but close. Dragonflies have compound eyes plus three extra eyes called ocelli that react to motion much faster than human eyes. They can track and intercept fast-moving prey that humans would struggle to follow.

Are big cats colorblind?

Big cats like tigers, lions, and leopards are not fully colorblind but have far fewer cone cells than humans. They can distinguish a limited range of colors. What they excel at is night vision, their tapetum lucidum reflects light back through the eye for exceptional low-light sight.

What animal has the largest eyes in the world?

The colossal squid holds the record for the largest eyes in the world, up to 30 cm (about one foot) in diameter in fully grown adults.

Test Your Animal Vision Knowledge!

5 quick questions about the most incredible eyes in the animal kingdom. Ready?

Goats

Goats might not look like vision champions, but their eyes are extraordinary. Their pupils are horizontal and almost perfectly rectangular, a very unusual shape among mammals. This gives goats a field of vision of 330°. That means they can see almost everything around them without turning their head at all! Since goats are hunted by big cats and other predators, this wide-angle warning system can be a life-saver.

Chameleons

Chameleon with one eye swivelled forward and the other rotated backward simultaneously — A chameleon with its eyes pointing in different directions, each eye sends a completely separate image to the brain.

Chameleons probably have the most famous eyes in the animal kingdom. Each eye can swivel on its own, completely independently of the other. This means a chameleon can watch two totally different things at the same time, one eye looking forward, the other looking backward. Scientists have documented this clearly, though exactly how the brain processes two separate images at once is still not fully understood.

Chameleons are truly extraordinary animals, read more about the different species of chameleons and the other amazing adaptations that make them such unique reptiles.

Mantis Shrimp

Despite their name, mantis shrimp are neither mantises nor shrimp, they are a completely separate type of crustacean. And their eyes may be the most extraordinary of any animal on Earth. Like dragonflies, they have compound eyes on movable stalks. Each eye is divided into three separate sections, giving each eye its own "trinocular" vision. Humans only have binocular vision (two eyes working together) so this is hard to imagine.

Most mind-blowing of all: mantis shrimp can see 12 color bands, compared to just 3 in humans. They can also detect circular polarized light, something like wearing 3D glasses permanently. Why they need this level of visual complexity, and how they actually use it, is still one of science's great mysteries.

When it comes to vision, animals have taken a very different path from humans. We may have advantages in many areas, but in the world of eyesight, we are clearly not at the top of the animal kingdom.

Term	What It Means
Tapetum Lucidum	A reflective layer behind the retina found in many nocturnal animals. It bounces light back through the eye a second time, effectively doubling the light available for vision. It also causes the glowing 'eye-shine' you see when a camera flash catches a cat or deer at night.
Compound Eyes	Eyes made of thousands of tiny lenses working together, found in insects and crustaceans. Each small lens captures a slightly different angle, and the brain combines them into one mosaic image. Great for detecting motion across a wide field of view.
Ocelli	Simple single-lens eyes found alongside the compound eyes of many insects, including dragonflies. Ocelli don't form detailed images but are extremely fast at detecting changes in light and motion, giving the insect a near-instant alarm system.
Binocular Vision	Vision where both eyes face forward and their fields overlap. The brain uses the slightly different views from each eye to judge distance accurately, essential for predators that need to know exactly how far away prey is before striking.
Prosimians	A group of early primates that includes lemurs, tarsiers, bushbabies, and lorises. The name means 'before monkeys', they are more ancient relatives of apes and humans. Most are nocturnal and have very large eyes relative to their body size.
Cone Cells	Photoreceptor cells in the eye that detect color. Humans have 3 types; mantis shrimp have 16. Animals with fewer cone cells (like big cats) see far fewer colors but often have more rod cells for superior low-light vision.

12 Animals With Incredible Eyesight That'll Make Your Eyes Pop Out

An Honorable Mention