How Good Can Rats See?
WouterRats are functional nocturnal creatures, and their eyesight is primarily affected by the amount of light they receive from ultraviolet light. This light helps them find food, routes, and hiding spots. Rats are also highly reflective, especially on their underbelly, which makes them more visible to other rats. They may stand on their hind legs to expose themselves to other rats, or hunch their backs to make themselves less visible to predators.
Rats can see in both directions, and their eyes move to follow a common object in front of them. This allows them to see more of the object they are looking at. Rats’ eyes move backward when they look down, and forward when they look up. They also bend their heads to move the lower eye up and the upper eye down, giving them a more solid view of what’s above them. This unusual movement of the eyes and body allow the rats to see very clearly.
Rats use their vision to see near and far objects, but their vision is extremely poor for long distances. This means that their eyesight is about 20/600. It also means that they rely on their whiskers to help coordinate their movements. Moreover, the eyesight of albino rats is poor because they have no pigment in their irises. The unpigmented irises also allow light to pass through and to the retina, leading to retinal degeneration.
