Hunterjumper
New Member
I was wondering if chameleons can see well in the dark?
Eye sight
- Thread starter Hunterjumper
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AnvilsHammer
New Member
No they are diurnal, so they never evolved the ability to see at night.
Video Master
New Member
Welcome to the forum!
They will go to sleep in the dark. When the lights go out they go to bed.
They will go to sleep in the dark. When the lights go out they go to bed.
ChameleonNerd
New Member
If I am not mistaken, the only difference between their vision (not their field of view) and our vision, is that they can see ultraviolet as well. So no, they can not see in the dark.
Another thing you may notice, They tend to have poor depth perception unless both eyes are focused on the same thing. Quite humorous at times. With one eye looking back at you, and the other eye looking towards a branch it's reaching out to grab, it may miss once in a while. But when it's hunting dinner, and both eyes focus on the meal, errors are seldom.
Hunterjumper
New Member
Thanks for the responses I figured that they couldn't considering they are diurnal! And yes I notice my guy reaching for a branch that's both there often if he's focusing on something else as we'll!
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
But, even though they may seem to have less depth perception when their eyes are focused in different spots, they still have some unlike just about every other animal. Each eye has a sort of "double lens" that permits it which is why a cham blinded in one eye can learn to compensate and hunt successfully. One-eyed wc chams are not that uncommon. It could be more of a brain function limitation (its a lot harder to process two completely different sets of visual information at the same time after all) than an eye issue. Considering how complex this would be I think they do amazingly well at it and I wish I had such fantastic eyes!
