Whale Eye Position and Vision Limits
The whale’s eyes are positioned far back on the sides of the head, low down near the angle of the jaw. These lashless eyes appear out of proportion to the massive head, resembling a young colt’s eye. This peculiar sideways positioning creates a significant limitation: the whale can never see objects directly ahead or directly astern. Like a man viewing the world through his ears, the whale can only command approximately thirty degrees of vision in advance and thirty degrees behind the straight side-line of sight.
Whale Divided Visual Perception
Unlike most animals whose eyes blend their visual power to produce a single unified picture, the whale’s eyes are separated by many cubic feet of solid head—a mass that towers between them like a mountain separating two valley lakes. This separation ensures each eye imparts entirely distinct impressions to the brain. The whale therefore sees one distinct picture on one side and another on the opposite side, with profound darkness between. While man views the world through a sentry-box with joined window sashes, the whale has two separate windows that sadly impair its overall view.
Whale Ear Anatomy and Species Differences
The whale’s ear proves as curious as its eye. For the uninitiated, the ear is nearly impossible to discover even after hours of searching, as it has no external leaf whatsoever. The ear opening barely admits a quill, positioned slightly behind the eye. An important distinction exists between the two species: while the Sperm Whale’s ear has an external opening, the Right Whale’s ear is entirely covered by a membrane, making it imperceptible from outside.
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