The Eye
Field of view, colour, acuity, light and dark.
Two animals watching the same thing from different geometry: one pair of eyes forward, one pair on the sides of the head.
Photo: Gustavo Fring / Pexels
An eye placed on the side of the head answers a different question from an eye placed at the front. Forward-set eyes buy overlap, and overlap buys depth; side-set eyes buy coverage. Everything in this section follows from that one trade, including the parts people read as character.
4 entries
-
Nearly panoramic
Eyes set on the sides of the head give a horse close to a full circle of vision with only a narrow binocular strip in front. It is a prey animal's arrangement: enormous coverage, poor depth except straight ahead, and it explains a great deal of behaviour that gets read as temperament.
long read -
Colour
Two cone types rather than three. Not colour-blind, but a different and narrower palette.
medium read · partly open -
Acuity
Lower than human acuity, which is why a familiar object in a new place is a new object.
medium read · partly open -
Light and dark
Excellent in low light, slow to adapt between the two — a dark doorway at noon is a genuine problem.
short read
Every entry separates what is observed from what is inferred, and says where the science is contested. The full index of entries lists all twenty-two.