This might sound daft but how do they... huge front faces on the and their eyes are on either side of their head, so if they are pointing left and right.. how do they see foward?
... and not just whales other large creatures like them?
xx
2006-11-13 00:17:11 · 5 answers · asked by *BURNY* 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
by having their eyes on the side they increase the field of vision but loose 3 dimensional vision. They can see forward up to a certain degree just as most large animals do. Sharks for example can see forwqard hunting their prey but for the final aproch its more a general snapping than anything else. For a whale it's not that important to see what is going around in front of it as it just feeds on plankton. 3 dimensonal vision is especially importan when judging distances, hardly of importance in the great oceans.
2006-11-13 00:25:20 · answer #1 · answered by ottmar_morett 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Having eyes on the side of your head gives you almost 360 degree vision, you can see forward, backwards and sideways at the same time, with the exception of a blind spot.
This might not seem an obvious advantage for whales, but they have this feature because they are descended from the same ancestors as cattle, sheep antelopes etc. The advantage for the land-based animals is that since they are all herbivores and therefore prey animals they have a wide field of vision which helps them to spot the approach of predators from all directions and make a quick escape. If you have ever watched lions hunting for example, you will have noticed that most of the prey see them coming and escape. Once a lion actually launches an attack by jumping on its prey it is actually in the blind spot of the animal in question which is unable to avoid the attack.
The downside to having eyes on the side of the head is that depth of perception is poor relative to eyes on the front of the head. Land based carnivores all have forward facing eyes to allow them to pinpoint prey accurately in the hunt, so presumably hunting strategies in carnivorous whales have to be adapted to enable them to hunt without this benefit.
2006-11-13 00:41:22 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They turn their heads so they can see forward. Animals that have eyes on the front of their heads are generally hunters, and animals with eyes on the side of their heads are prey.
2006-11-13 00:25:15 · answer #3 · answered by CG234 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there eyes move in there head stand in frount of a bathe room mirror and try to see which way your eyes move in your head go try it you will see you can't see which way your eyes are facing because your eyes have focal points
2006-11-13 00:27:33 · answer #4 · answered by Talking Hat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
By not looking backwards.
2006-11-13 00:19:18 · answer #5 · answered by elw 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋