By Anupum Pant
Animals which hunt usually have eyes in the front. Both the eyes have the same field of view. However, since they are separated by some distance, there’s a parallax – information which their brain uses to calculate the three dimensional depth. This 3D vision is a boon for the animals who hunt because it helps them to exactly gauge the prey’s depth.
The good 3D vision also comes with its own cons. As both the eyes have the same field of view, the total amount of field they can cover is less. That means they can only see what’s happening in front of them. But can see it well in 3D. To see behind they might as well tilt their heads.
Rabbits on the other hand are themselves prey. The 3D vision wouldn’t have benefited them much. So, they have eyes on the 2 different sides of the head. And the eyes bulge out a lot. This means both the eyes see different things and a greater field of view is covered. However, the 3D stereoscopic vision is compromised. Thanks to the big field of view, they are easily able to spot predators coming down on them from the behind without even turning their heads.
Rabbits actually have a 360 degree vision, a panoramic view of the world. The only 3D vision rabbits have is 30 degrees of view in the front and 10 degrees behind them, because that is the region where the vision from both eyes overlaps.
via [Steroscopic vision]