All animals

How does a cat see the world?

Six times our low-light sensitivity.

A very dark night garden with a fence, plants and a mouse on the lawnHuman vision
A very dark night garden with a fence, plants and a mouse on the lawn, as it would appear to a catCat vision

Same night, same garden. The mouse on the lawn only exists on one side.

What's going on

Rod-heavy retinas plus a reflective layer behind them (the tapetum lucidum) let a cat pull detail out of a garden you would call pitch black - at the cost of colour saturation and fine detail.

Field of view

You: ~190°

Cat: ~200°

Approximate horizontal field of view, seen from above. The dot is the head.

You vs the cat

Low-light visionCat wins
You
Cat
Fine detailYou win
You
Cat
Colour rangeYou win
You
Cat
Motion detectionCat wins
You
Cat