Hosted by the School of Biological Sciences
How do other animals see their world? Is it the same colourful world of our own experience? Or do some animals only see blurred shapes that are light or dark? Are there even forms of important visual information that we as humans are not sensitive to?
The School of Biological Sciences in Bristol has a long history of studying animal vision. From discovering how visual systems are adapted to the deep sea in the early 1980s, understanding the importance of ultraviolet wavelengths for birds, to more recently, discovering how animals see and use light in ways we are blind to.
Feeding cues on coral reefs, secret visual signals, and a night-time compass that helps animals navigate, are some of the hidden visual worlds we are currently studying. In this talk we will link together some of this work with an understanding of how and why animals use different forms of visual information. And importantly, how sometimes human activities impact other animal’s visual environments without us even being aware.