The sense of sight is perhaps the most important for animals. It allows them to see the world around them, discover their food, warn of danger. But we cannot think that all living beings on the planet see the same. Insects have a different view than us, then we explain how it is. Insects have two types of eyes: simple and compound.
How are the eyes of insects
The vast majority of insects have two types of eyes: the simple or ocelli and the compound or faceted. The simple eyes are arranged in the center of the forehead and are usually two or three. Compound eyes, as the name implies, are composed of small eyes in the form of an elongated tube. The outer surface of each of them, has a face or facet in the form of a hexagon, similar to the carving of a brilliant and, inside, a lens or crystalline and the retina or membrane to collect the luminous impressions. The whole forms the cornea or outer transparent membrane, which is convex, bulging and constitutes the compound eye. The number of tubes that make up the compound eye is variable: certain ants have 9 and the fly 400 and the dragonfly 28,000.
How insects see
As each tube has a lens, the light that penetrates through them records on the retina a part of the object that the insect is looking at. To see the total, a “mosaic” image is formed, that is, fragmented, and by is different from the human one, which is continuous. In addition, insects’ eyes are adapted to their environment, and generally grasp what is moving better than what is at rest.
Insects see colors
Naturalists have conducted many studies to find out if insects distinguish the color of flowers and other objects, the results are amazing. Thus, today it is known that the bee does not distinguish the red color well, and when they approach flowers of this color, they do so because they reflect blue light, which insects can capture. They are also sensitive to ultraviolet rays, which we cannot perceive.
If you want to read similar articles to How insects see, we recommend that you enter our category of The Animal World.