Guinea pigs, as prey, have poorly developed visual acuity. Their eyes are placed laterally in order to have a wide range of vision that allows them to control much of their environment. However, depth perception is considerably worse than that of predatory animals.
What are the eyes of guinea pigs like?
The eyes of guinea pigs are not very different from those of other rodents. Specifically, they are made up of three overlapping layers:
- The fibrous tunic: is the outermost layer. It is made up of the cornea (transparent) and the sclera (white).
- The vascular tunic or uvea: is the middle layer. It is made up of the iris, ciliary bodies, and choroid. Most guinea pigs have a black or brown iris. Less commonly, guinea pigs can be found with red/pink or blue eyes.
- The nerve tunic or retina: is the innermost layer, which connects to the optic nerve through the optic disc. The retina is vascularized by a series of blood vessels that radiate from the optic disc. In most mammals, the pattern followed by these retinal vessels is of the "holangiotic" type. However, in guinea pigs this pattern is of the “paurangiotic” type. This means that retinal vessels are hardly observed when performing an eye fundus, which can lead to an erroneous diagnosis of retinal atrophy, when it is really the normal image of the retina of a guinea pig.
Normally, guinea pigs produce a milky, whitish eye discharge which they use for grooming. Occasionally, a small drop of this milky fluid can be seen in the tear area, however, this secretion often goes unnoticed by caregivers as guinea pigs tend to spread it quickly with their paws.
As a curiosity, it is worth mentioning that guinea pigs have developed the ability to sleep with their eyes open. Although they have movable eyelids that allow them to close their eyes, some guinea pigs always sleep with their eyes open and others do so more sporadically. This is nothing more than a defense measure that allows them to react quickly to any risk situation, even when they are asleep.
How is the vision of guinea pigs?
You may know that the position of an animal's eyes is an indication of whether it is predator or prey. Predators, such as dogs or cats, have their eyes in the front part of their faces, which reduces their visual range somewhat, but gives them very good binocular vision. This makes predators, in general, have great visual acuity. However, prey have eyes in a more lateral position, which gives them a wider range of vision to cover a greater angle of control.
Guinea pigs, as prey, have lateral eyes that provide a 340º viewing angle This means that they have a wide almost complete visual, which is truly impressive. They only have two blind spots: one in the front, right in front of their nose, and one in the back.
On the other hand, the lateral disposition of their eyes makes them have poor visual acuity and depth perception is considerably worse than that of predators. So much so, that they are only able to see clearly what is a meter or a meter and a half away from them. In addition, they are also unable to see what is below their nose. These characteristics prevent guinea pigs from calculating distances and heights correctly, so it is not advisable to leave guinea pigs in high places or to live in an enclosure with many levels, since they can easily fall down.
Guinea pigs perceive about 33 images per second, as opposed to the 22 images per second that the human eye is capable of processing. This allows them to greatly decrease their reaction time to any danger while preventing blurry vision when they quickly turn their heads.
Do guinea pigs see in the dark?
As to whether or not guinea pigs see in the dark, there is some controversyIt is true that some rodents have relatively good vision at night, however, it seems that guinea pigs do not belong to this group. In fact, they are not nocturnal animals, but crepuscular In other words, they are especially active in the morning and in the afternoon, and the rest of the day they usually spend to rest. However, the fact that they do not have good night vision does not mean that they cannot defend themselves well at night. This is because:
- Fundamentally, because they have a very good memory. Specifically, they have a great ability to memorize the environments they inhabit and map them in their head. This is the main reason why guinea pigs are able to navigate their enclosures accurately even at night.
- In addition, they have other very well-developed senses (such as hearing and smell), which help them to orient themselves in low light.
If after discovering that they have an excellent memory you wonder if guinea pigs recognize their guardians, in this other post you will find the answer.
What colors do guinea pigs see?
Humans naturally have trichromatic vision, which means we can differentiate between the three primary colors (yellow, cyan blue and magenta). However, the retina of guinea pigs is only capable of perceiving two of the three primary colors
Therefore, we can say that guinea pigs see in color, although their vision is somewhat poorer than ours. In their case, they mainly perceive blue, violet and slightly greenish tones.
Now that you know how guinea pigs see, keep browsing our articles to learn more about them and offer the best care to your little companion:
- Prohibited foods for guinea pigs
- How long does a guinea pig live
