It would be easy to assume that the bigger an animal’s eyes, the better they must work. However, a new study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, has revealed that one of the largest animals on Earth actually has pretty poor eyesight.
Scientists from Duke University and the University of North Carolina (UNCW) have found that humpback whales can’t see nearly as well as previously believed. This discovery is providing new insights into the mechanics of humpback whale eyes and changing our understanding of how marine mammals perceive the world around them.
“This work helps fill a major gap in our understanding of the sensory ecology of large whales [and] how humpbacks experience their world,” said Lori Schweikert, assistant professor of biology and marine biology at UNCW, in a press release.
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