You're a bird, flying in looking for tasty morsels in the shrubbery. Ooh, what's that, something fluttered by and landed? You investigate...sheeeyit there's a sharp-eyed mammal staring back at you!

Yesterday's Emperor

#teamMoth #mothsMatter

The details and the subtlety of the "eyes", formally known as ocelli, are quite astonishing when you think about it. They have "irises" and "catchlights" to make them look like real eyes and from this angle eyebrows and a nose below!!!

#pareidolia

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@sciencebase I remember reading about work that showed that without the catchlights, they were far less effective. Don't recall how they did it though.

@SteelFolk Ah, interesting. I assumed there'd be something. Because these surfaces are photonic, the brighter areas will actually glisten and shimmer in sunlight so making them look shiny like real eyes, amazing evolution!

@sciencebase Whilst you're there, do you know what pica means as in Na pica sulphate?

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