Slow Motion Vision micro-lesson

Welcome to Animal Superpowers: Extraordinary Senses. This lesson is about the superpower of slow-motion vision. The smallest animals are usually at the bottom of the food chain and need a superpower sense to stay safe from predators, so these tiny creatures can actually see in slow-motion. Researchers test something called Critical Flicker Fusion Frequency, which tests how quickly different animals and humans react to flickering light. Humans sometimes cannot even tell the light is flickering but they found that the smaller the animal, the quicker they notice changes in the light flickering. For example, a fly can see and react to the changes much faster than humans. This means that small animals have time to react and run or fly away from predators, and why it’s so hard to catch a fly. They also found that the faster the metabolism, the faster the animal can react. But if something is too slow, then they can't even tell that it's moving. So, try this next time you try and take a picture of a butterfly. Walk up to it as slowly as you can and if you go slow enough, it won't notice you're there and you can take a picture from very close.