Welcome to the multi-faceted world of insect vision.

Today’s bug-eyed mystery is this: What does the world look like to a fly? How about a bee, or a butterfly? Buzz on over to tune in and find out!

The way you see the world depends entirely on your eyesight. The way we see something can change even based on the tools we use: you might wear glasses, contact lenses, or none. It’s different too in the animal kingdom, dogs have a “dichromatic vision” which means they are blind to red-green colors and only see in brown, yellow, blue and gray. Birds can see ultraviolet colors that are invisible to us humans. But what about insects?

THE QUESTION OF THE DAY:

What does the world look like to a fly?

Insects’ eyes are built differently from ours. They have thousands of tiny light-sensors called “ommatidia”. These ommatidia are hexagonal-shaped, and are so good that they can see everything that’s going on around them in 360 degrees – like a special crystal!

Insects, like birds, can perceive a different set of colors than we can. They too can perceive ultraviolet lights and are especially sensitive of blue and green colors. Some insects, like humans, have “trichromatic vision”, but instead their red looks closer to black.

Emma’s adventures to answer some mysteries continue!
Be sure to keep an eye out for the next episodes to come.