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Due to the construction of the book, the following pages don’t showcase the finished flaps or the depth of information Below are photos of the original French book – Zooptique These give a good example of how the refreshed book will work for both the US and UK markets For more information please see the AIs at the end of this book
HOW DO ANIMALS SEE? Below is a scene viewed through human eyes. But what about the other animals in the picture? Do they see the same thing? (Leave this page folded out to the side so you can compare the different scenes.) Some animals have a wide field of vision , but others have a narrow one. Some see very fast movements, and others can only perceive motion when it’s slow. Some animals see the world in many colours. Others only see one or two. Some can make out lots of detail, while others move through a world of fuzzy shapes.
Look out for the symbols below to learn more about how animals see. Field of vision
Light and colour
invisible to humans
colours visible to humans
red
orange
yellow
ultraviolet
green
180 degrees Humans have a field of vision of 180 degrees. This means we see half of the circle around us. This system allowed our ancestors to spot dangerous animals to the sides. Our vision has three areas. In the one on each side we see with only one eye. But in the centre we see with both eyes at once (called binocular vision). In this overlapping zone we see objects in 3D. It’s also where we judge distances best.
blue
When light enters our eyes, it hits the surface at the back of the eyeball, called the retina. This surface is covered in special cells called rods and cones that capture light. Rods detect light’s brightness. Cones detect wavelengths of light and convert them to colours. We are used to the rainbow we see, but many animals’ cone cells are different from ours. This means some see fewer colours than we do. Others see lots more, including ultraviolet and infrared.
violet
How much of the surrounding environment animals can see depends on where their eyes are on their heads. Predators with eyes which face forwards such as tigers and wolves see very well in front of them. Prey animals with eyes on the sides such as deer and cows see much better what’s around them, keeping a lookout for hungry predators.
infrared
invisible to humans
Sharp or blurry
Capturing movement
Some animals can see in sharp focus. Others travel through a blurry world. For most animals in this book, sharpness depends on three things: the size of the eye, the shape of the lens that focuses light and the number of rod and cone cells on the back of the eye.
To see movement, our eyes take still snapshots. Then our brain puts them together to make a sequence. Humans take about twenty of these snapshots per second. But some animals take as few as four snapshots per second. This means they can only see much slower movements than we do. Others take as many as 300. They can see movements so fast they are invisible or very blurry to us.
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THE EYE
Nature’s camera Eyes comes in many different shapes among animals. Human eyes are close to being a ball, but other animals can have flattened or tube-shaped eyes. Simple eyes
Human
Eagle
Compound eyes
Lizard
Ant
How the human eye works The retina is a thin layer at the back of the eye. It is covered in light-sensitive cells called photoreceptors that capture light and detect colour. Humans have more than 130 million photoreceptors in each eye.
The lens is a see-through layer of flexible tissue that changes shape to focus the light. The cornea is a thick, see-through covering that protects the eye.
The fovea centralis is the most light-sensitive part of the retina. More photoreceptors are concentrated here than anywhere else. This allows it to capture the sharpest image.
The iris is the part of the eye that opens or closes to let in more or less light through the hole in its centre, called the pupil.
Photoreceptor cells come in two types: rods, which allow us to see lightness and darkness; cones, which allow us to see colour.
The image is upside down on the retina but our brains turn it the right way up.
Seeing with your brain We don’t just see with our eyes - we need our brains to decode the information. First, the rods and cones break down the image into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. The signals from the right eye are fed to the left side of the brain, and vice versa. The brain interprets this information and creates an image. The whole journey from eye to brain takes less than a second.
WHAT ANIMALS SEE The world through animals’ eyes
Do dogs see in colour? Can cats really see at night? How do insects find flowers? Do bulls actually see red? Which animals have better vision than us? Scientists perform experiments to learn how animals see the world. They have looked through the eyes of bugs, painted bee hives different colours and shown pictures to chimpanzees. They have even released bats into the air with blindfolds on! Scientists have learned a lot from this research. But there is still plenty to discover. Let’s take a look at the world through animals’ eyes!
Why see at all? That depends on the animal! Sight can help animals explore, find food, escape from predators and avoid bumping into things. It can aid a predator in catching its prey or a bee in its search for flowers. Sight can also help animals seek out members of the same species and communicate with them.
Other senses Animals have lots of senses for finding their way through the world. Vision is an important sense for humans and other apes. But many animals depend on other senses. Smell, taste, hearing or touch can be essential for survival. If an animal has poor vision, these other senses are often more developed.
MAMMALS vision and colour
Mammals grow hair or fur and feed their babies milk produced from their bodies. Plus, nearly all mammals give birth to live young instead of laying eggs. We know of about 5,000 species of mammals. This group includes cats, dogs, mice, horses, elephants, platypuses ‌ and humans! Some mammals have great vision, and some see poorly or are even blind. But all mammals have senses which help them to survive. Many meateating mammals hunt at the end of the day thanks to good vision in low light. Some prey mammals have eyes on the sides of their heads. This gives them a wide field of vision, so they can spot predators and hide before being gobbled up.
Humans are trichromats, which means they see in three colours. These colours can mix together to make many others. But imagine a world where red is seen as yellow or green. Like some colour-blind humans, most mammals are dichromats, which means they can only see a mixture of two colours instead.
These are the colours seen by a trichromat such as a human. The retinas of trichromats have three types of cones (colourdetecting cells).
5
These are the colours seen by a dichromat, which includes most mammals. Dichromats only have two types of cones on their retinas.
CHIMPANZEE Almost like us
For primates (such as monkeys, lemurs and humans), vision is important for moving about and finding food. Chimpanzees are our closest cousins among animals. So, does this mean they see the world just like we do?
DOG
Colour-blind predator Dogs’ keen senses have been passed down from their ancestors, wolves. Their sense of smell is among the best in the animal kingdom. Plus, their incredible hearing allows them to pick up infra- and ultrasound - sounds humans can’t hear. But when it comes to sight, on almost every count, dogs’ vision is much worse than ours.
CAT
The eyes of a hunter Cats see five times less well than humans. But this doesn’t stop them being fierce predators. Unfortunately for mice and birds, cats are supersensitive to movement and light. So sensitive, in fact, that they hunt equally as well at night as in the day.
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RABBIT & SQUIRREL Always on alert
These small prey mammals use their strong sense of smell to stay alert to predators. Smell also helps them sniff out food hidden in fields or on the forest floor. Rabbits and squirrels don’t have vision as clear as ours. But with eyes on the sides of their heads they can spot predators closing in and escape.
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BAT & MOUSE Sound and vision
Mice are small mammals that search for scraps of food in nooks and crannies. They can smell much better than they see. Bat’s rely on a different sense – most of them are blind but they find food by making high-pitched cries and listening for the echoes.
COW & HORSE Eyes to the sides
These two plant-eaters have among the biggest fields of vision of all mammals.
BIRDS
a world of many colours Birds are vertebrates with bodies covered in feathers, a beak and wings for flight. They also lay eggs. We know of about 9,000 bird species alive today. Protected behind three eyelids, birds eyes are the most developed of all the vertebrates’. So it’s no surprise that vision is the most important sense for birds. They use their vision to move around, look out for predators and snatch prey.
invisible to humans
15
colours visible to humans
red
yellow orange
green
ultraviolet
blue
Many birds see more colours than mammals. This includes seeing ultraviolet light. That means that no matter what special ink is used to draw the scene, we humans can only imagine what birds see.
violet
Hidden at the back of birds’ retinas are amazing photoreceptors. Nocturnal birds have lots of rod cells for seeing in low-light conditions. Birds that are awake in the day have lots of cone cells to see vibrant colours. Most birds’ cones contain tiny drops of yellow, red or orange oil that filter light and increase the contrast between colours.
EAGLE
There’s a reason they call it eagle-eyed Eagles are some of the greatest predators in the animal kingdom. Soaring high above mountain peaks, they can spot a mouse a kilometre away.
OWL
Eyes and ears Owls are outstanding birds of prey in the day and, above all, at night. But as they silently fly over us, their two huge eyes are just part of the story.
PIGEON & HUMMINGBIRD Unusual colours
You might not think that pigeons and hummingbirds have much in common, but they do. Each species’s vision is perfectly suited for the way they eat, find their way around and spot predators.
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WOODCOCK
Eyes in the back of its head? Woodcocks have the largest field of vision of all the birds: 360 degrees. They may not have eyes in the back of their head, but they really can see right behind them!
REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS, WORMS AND MOLLUSCS
so many ways to see the world This chapter brings together animals from lots of different groups: Reptiles are vertebrates that lay eggs on land and have dry, scaly skin. This group includes lizards, crocodiles and snakes. We know of about 11,000 species of reptile. Amphibians are vertebrates that live in water when they’re young and on land when they become adults. They lay clusters of eggs in lakes and rivers. We know of about 7,000 species of amphibian. Most of these are frogs. Worms are long, thin animals without backbones. They come in lots of forms, but annelids are the most familiar. These worms are made of lots of identical segments. Earthworms are a common type of annelid found in every garden. We know of 17,000 species of annelid. Molluscs are a very varied group of animals with soft-bodies. Some produce hard shells while others don’t. This group includes snails and slugs, as well as octopuses, clams and many others. We know of about 85,000 species of molluscs.
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REPTILES
A cold-blooded stare Reptiles see far more colours than we do, like birds. Eyes on the sides and near the tops of their heads give them a wide visual field. At night, some reptiles compliment their regular sight with heat-vision for catching prey.
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CHAMELEON
Two independent eyes Vision is a chameleon’s most powerful sense. Each of their eyes can turn separately in any direction. This allows them to look two opposite ways at the same time.
FLY
Thousands of images at once Flies can detect the smell of food many kilometres away. While their eyes can’t see that far, they do have incredible vision. Each compound eye is made up of 3,000 ommatidia. Every one captures a separate image: brain overload! 24
BUTTERFLY
Another world to discover Butterflies have very strong vision. Their compound eyes have even more ommatidia than a fly’s. Depending on the species, up to 17,000 per eye! Plus, they have more types of photoreceptors than a human does. But scientists do not know exactly how a butterfly’s brain analyses the signals from its eyes. There is still so much to be discovered about how animals see. So, close your eyes and imagine the world through the eyes of a butterfly.
EYE SPY
Wild Ways Animals See the World SELLING POINTS ›› Lets kids see the world through the eyes of their favorite animals—cats, dogs, horses, chimps, owls, and frogs, among others ›› Perfect non-fiction companion to best seller They All Saw a Cat ›› From Guillaume Duprat, winner of the Bologna Ragazzi Non-fiction Illustrator Award ›› Lift-the-flap interactivity makes every page a surprise
Author & Illustrator: Guillaume Duprat Age: 6–12 Price: US $19.99 / CAN $26.99 ISBN: 978-1-9998028-5-1 Format: Hardback Pages: 40 Trim size: 10 x 13¼ inches Pub date: 1 October 2018 BISACs: JNF003000; JNF013060; JNF051150
Orders Ingram Publisher Services Contact your IPS Sales Representative Tel: (866) 400-5351 Fax: (800) 838-1149 ips@ingramcontent.com ipage.ingramcontent.com
PR and Marketing Publisher Spotlight Tel: (615) 930-2110 ellen@publisherspotlight.com
What on Earth Publishing Ltd contactUS@whatonearthbooks.com
DESCRIPTION Ever wonder what your cat is watching out the window? Or how having eyes on the sides of its head changes the world for a horse? And what would life be like if we couldn’t see the whole rainbow or—even stranger—could see in 4 or 5 colors instead of only 3? Eye Spy takes children on a whirlwind tour of how eyes work and lets them lift-the-flaps to find out how animals as different as dogs, owls, and chameleons see the same scene. It’s a truly eye-opening experience guaranteed to fuel and satisfy the curiosity of any animal-lover.
EYE SPY
Wild Ways Animals See the World SELLING POINTS ›› Lets kids see the world through the eyes of their favourite animals—cats, dogs, horses, chimps, owls, and frogs, among others ›› Perfect non-fiction companion to best seller They All Saw a Cat ›› From Guillaume Duprat, winner of the Bologna Ragazzi Nonfiction Illustrator Award ›› Lift-the-flap interactivity makes every page a surprise
DESCRIPTION Author & Illustrator: Guillaume Duprat Age: 6–12 Price: £12.99 ISBN: 978-1-9998028-4-4 Format: Hardback Pages: 40 Trim size: 245 x 330cm Pub date: 1 October 2018
Orders Grantham Book Services Tel: 01476 541080 Fax: 01476 541061 orders@gbs.tbs-ltd.co.uk
Bounce Sales and Marketing Tel: 020 7138 3650 sales@bouncemarketing.co.uk
What on Earth Publishing Ltd Tel: 01732 464621 info@whatonearthbooks.com
Ever wonder what your cat is watching out the window? Or how having eyes on the sides of its head changes the world for a horse? And what would life be like if we couldn’t see the whole rainbow or—even stranger—could see in 4 or 5 colors instead of only 3? Eye Spy takes children on a whirlwind tour of how eyes work and lets them lift the flaps to find out how animals as different as dogs, owls, and chameleons see the same scene. It’s a truly eye-opening experience guaranteed to fuel and satisfy the curiosity of any animal-lover.