Answer 1:
Birds can see better what's happening on their
sides than we can. They have a much wider field
of view than ours. Also, when a bird wants to see
something interesting on one side, it will tip its
head to that side to see just with the eye on that
side. Our cockatoo did that, and it was pretty
entertaining.
Wikipedia has an article about 'bird vision' that
says most birds can't move their eyes. Most birds
have eyes on the sides of their heads, but some
birds like owls have eyes on the front of their
heads, like us. Owls can see in 3D, like we
do; but birds with eyes on the sides of their
heads can't see in 3D. Birds can see fast
movement better than we can, though. Fluorescent
lights flicker 60 times per second, and chickens
can see all those flashes, but we can't.
Wikipedia says birds can see slow movement better
than we can, too, like the sun moving across the
sky.
Science answers 'How' questions mostly, not 'Why'
questions. Somehow we evolved with eyes in
front so that we can see in 3D and know how far
away things are. Owls do this, too, and it
probably helps them know how far away their prey
is. [That's a 'Why' answer, but it's just a
guess.]
This is interesting, from Wikipedia's article
on 'binocular vision.' It says animals with eyes
on the sides of their heads are often the ones
that get hunted, like rabbits. They want to be
able to see as big a field of view as possible, to
see if anything is hunting them! [There, that was
sort of a 'why' answer - why it might be useful to
have eyes on the side of your head. But we really
just know 'how' things are, and then we guess
about 'why' things evolved that way.]
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