How does the numbat see?
The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) is a mammal in the order Dasyuromorphia. Its eyes belong to the vision type Small prey mammal (UV).
Measured in this species: sharpness, field of view and night vision. Measured core: measured values on at least 3 of the 6 dials. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has two colour receptor classes (a dichromat): reds and greens fall on one axis, as in red-green colour blindness in people.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 5.2 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- Both eyes see the same 80° in front of it (binocular overlap), where depth is judged best.
- It stops seeing flicker at 60 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about the same.[12][13]
- Activity pattern: diurnal.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 2 receptor classes: 363 nm (UVS), 533 nm (MWS (green)) receptor set of nearest measured relative Sminthopsis crassicaudata (same order Dasyuromorphia) | Group default | [1] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Group default | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 5.2 cycles per degree median of 1 behavioural rows (method priority rule) | Measured | [2] |
| Field of view | Binocular overlap 80° median of 1 rows (eyes-at-rest rows preferred) | Measured | [3] |
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 0 median of 80 relatives in class Mammalia: Canis lupus, Vulpes lagopus, Acinonyx jubatus, Felis catus, Crocuta crocuta, Enhydra lutris | Group default | [4] |
| Fovea type area centralis | Group default | [4] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal mode of 7 rows (of 8 rows): cathemeral; diurnal; mixed (nocturnal/crepuscular, cathemeral, crepuscular or diurnal/crepuscular); nocturnal | Measured (not re-verified) | [5][6][7][8][9][10][2] |
| Rods vs cones cone-dominated nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated | Derived | [5][6][7][8][9][10][2] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 60 Hz median of 21 relatives in class Mammalia: Rattus norvegicus, Cavia porcellus, Mus musculus, Felis catus, Macaca mulatta, Macaca nemestrina | Group default | [11][12][13][14] |
Related animals
- Fat-tailed dunnart same vision type
- Marsupial cat same vision type
- Northern native cat same vision type
- Brown rat same vision type
- House mouse same vision type
- Mongolian jird same vision type
More mammals: all mammals with measured vision data.
Sources
- Frazer SA, Baghalian M, et al. 2024. Discovering genotype-phenotype relationships with machine learning and the Visual Physiology Opsin Database (VPOD). GigaScience 13:giae073; VPOD v1.3 data release. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19051998
- Veilleux CC, Kirk EC 2014. Visual acuity in mammals. Brain Behav Evol 83:43, Supplementary Table 1 (cleaned CSV in Evo-M1-Trait-Data). doi.org/10.1159/000357830
- Heesy CP 2004. On the relationship between orbit orientation and binocular visual field overlap in mammals. Anat Rec 281A:1104, Table 1. doi.org/10.1002/ar.a.20116
- Kopania EEK, Clark NL. 2025. Mammalian retinal specializations for high acuity vision evolve in response to both foraging strategies and morphological constraints. Evolution Letters 9: qrae072. Supplementary Tables S1-S2.. doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrae072
- Anderson SR, Wiens JJ. 2017. Out of the dark: 350 million years of conservatism and evolution in diel activity patterns in vertebrates. Evolution 71:1944-1959. Dryad doi:10.5061/dryad.fg700. doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fg700
- Borges R, Johnson WE, O'Brien SJ, Gomes C, Heesy CP, Antunes A (2018) Adaptive genomic evolution of opsins reveals that early mammals flourished in nocturnal environments. BMC Genomics 19:121
- Wilman et al. 2014 EltonTraits 1.0, MamFuncDat.txt. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
- Maor R, Dayan T, Ferguson-Gow H, Jones KE. 2017. Temporal niche expansion in mammals from a nocturnal ancestor after dinosaur extinction. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1:1889-1895. Supplementary Table 1. doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0366-5
- Jones KE et al. 2009. PanTHERIA: a species-level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals. Ecology 90:2648. Ecological Archives E090-184. doi.org/10.1890/08-1494.1
- Moura et al. 2024. A phylogeny-informed characterisation of global tetrapod traits addresses data gaps and biases. PLoS Biol 22:e3002658. TetrapodTraits v3.0.1.. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22536349
- Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
- Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?