Why can't humans see at night as well as other animals?

Answer 1

ANimals like Cats and dogs pr predators of night like tigers and cheetah who see well in the noght have both rods and cones in the retina. Rods are the receptors that the eye uses for night time viewing and sudden movement. Cones are used during the daytime, and process color information. Cats etc have more rods than cones, as compared with humans, making cats and these type of nightly predators night and motion vision superior to humans.
In low light, like night, color and hue are not perceived, only black, white and shades of gray.
Animals have an elliptical pupil which opens and closes much faster than round types and allows for a much larger pupil size. This allows more light to enter the eye. Animals also have a mirror like membrane on the back of their eyes called a Tapetum. It reflects the light passing through
the rods... back through the rods a second time, this time in the opposite direction.
The result is a double exposure of the light, which permit cats to see well in near darkness.

Answer 2

Unlike humans, some animals can see very well at night.

THis is partly due to natural selection :: an owl (1)with better sight at night can find food more easily than an owl(2) with bad sight at night. This means owl 2 will die more easily because they can't find food especially at night time. Owl 1 will survive and have children - like the parents the children will have good eyesight.

However, humans do not have good eyesight at night because they don't NEED to have good eyesight at night. For example, a human with better night eyesight (1) will have the same chances of survival as a human with worse night eyesight. This is because having better eyesight at night isn't that much of an advantage. because we don't hunt food at night etc.

Answer 3

All sighted animals are different, some have developed eyes better suited to the low light conditions found at night, some to the bright light of day. It is not as simple as humans v other animals, homo sapiens sapiens, (us humans) are simply animals, some humans have better night vision than others, mine is very good for a human, but would not compare to an owl or a cat. their are many animals that have much worse night vision than humans & many that have substantially better. Hunters tend to have better night vision than their prey, but this is not always the case. Try this http://ebiomedia.com/gall/eyes/nocturnal.html and google animal night vision.

Answer 4

The structure of the human eye is different to that of other animals.

Answer 5

Cos humans dont have to go out at night and do the hunting thing, or watch out at night for other people hunting you, (unless you are a 24hr supermarket shopper). Even back in stoneage times, sure we were tucked up nice and cosy in our caves, whilst the animals with the great night sight were out there looking for their dinner

Answer 6

Nocturnal animals have larger pupils in their eyes and it allows for more light to enter. A humans pupil is smaller and allows less light to enter.

Answer 7

God wanted to give animals a chance to escape poachers at night.

Answer 8

because some animals i think have a third eyelid or a nictitating membrane that protect the eye and help in visibility during the night

Answer 9

it is to do with the number of cones and rods in our eyes. these are photoreceptors which pick up different levels of light.

We have many more cones than rods, which are used for daylight vision or those light levels. Less rods means poorer night vision.

Some animals have many more rods than we do,

Answer 10

Its the rods and cones thing. we sleep at night, so don't need such good night vision. At night, our vision is black and white, which is best for detecting motion, though not fine detail.