Visual Acuity of Humans Greater Than Most Other Animals

[Drakkith]

According to a paper published back in March, humans see the world with a much higher visual acuity compared to other animals. Cats, for example, have roughly 1/6th the visual acuity of humans, and fruit flies have roughly 1/100th. A few animals do better than ourselves, namely eagles, hawks, and other birds of prey.

One interesting tidbit is the possibility that animals take advantage of this difference in visual acuity to warn certain species of their presence yet keep their prey unaware. For example, the striped pattern on certain spider's webs may help keep birds from flying into the web. Yet because of the very poor visual acuity of most insects, the spider's prey cannot see the pattern even from very close range.

See the news article for several examples and comparisons.

News article
Full paper (behind paywall unfortunately)

 

[Bystander]

Cats, for example, have roughly 1/6th the visual acuity of humans

Would not have believed that given the attention given me, and the can opener, by a couple cats I/'ve know/n to be deaf.

 

[Drakkith]

Would not have believed that given the attention given me, and the can opener, by a couple cats I/'ve know/n to be deaf.

Well, your cats won't be doing any fine print reading, but their vision suits them.