London: The peregrine falcon, one of the world’s most common predatory birds, has the fastest vision in the animal kingdom, and can register nearly 130 frames per second, according to a study. In comparison, the researchers, including those from Lund University in Sweden, said humans see up to a maximum of 50 to 60 blinks per second.
They added that at a movie theatre, a speed of 25 images per second is sufficient for humans to perceive it as film, and not as a series of still images. According to the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the peregrine falcon has the fastest vision, registering 129 Hz (blinks per second) in a high light intensity environment. Under the same conditions, the saker falcon can see 102 Hz and the Harris's hawk 77 Hz, the study noted. This is the first time scientists have studied the speed of vision among birds of prey, calculating how fast they sense visual impressions.
“This is the first time. My colleague Simon Potier and I have examined the peregrine falcon, saker falcon and Harris hawk and measured how fast light can blink for these species to still register the blinks,” said study co-author Almut Kelber from Lund University. The speed at which different birds of prey process visual impressions is related to their hunting needs, the researchers said.
For the peregrine falcon which hunts fast-flying birds, the ability to spot ultraspeed movements helps them detect prey sufficiently early in order to have time to react. The Harris hawk is not as advantaged with very high vision speeds since it hunts small, slower mammals on the ground, the researchers explained.
—PTI
