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confused flatfish noises (mander.xyz)

submitted 3 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 208 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think that's specific to mammals. Just off the top of my head...

Invertebrates? No. All out

Fish? No. Also a Hammerhead would've really sold this comic lol.

Birds? No. Though, even on the side they do often have a tilt toward frontal in a lot of predatory birds. It could be argued...

Reptiles? No.

Amphibians? No. There's no even trying to place rules on that optical chaos.

Mammals? Yeah, pretty much. Can't think of an outlier but I'm sure there's plenty of obvious ones.

Edit' Ah, there we go. Of course marine mammals are an exception. But back in land, as too are llamas. Makes you wonder...what are the llamas plotting?

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 57 points 3 weeks ago

whales and dolphins are mammals, and they have eyes on the side. Don't think anything preys on them (at least for the full-grown ones, pretty sure baby whales are preyed on)

[-] roguetrick@lemmy.world 41 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Sperm whales are apex(orcas will target calves but they stay the hell away from bulls) but they don't hunt their monstrous cephalopod prey(which in any sane ecosystem would be apex themselves) with eyes.

[-] sbeak@sopuli.xyz 37 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

A non-predator mammal with front facing eyes: llamas.

[-] FeatherConstrictor@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 weeks ago

Are llamas' eyes not side-facing? That's what it looks like in photos to me

[-] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

They need them for spitting.

[-] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Llamas are dangerous, so if you see one where people are swimming, you shout: Look out, there are llamas!

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[-] squaresinger@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Pandas as well. Non-predator but clearly front facing eyes.

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[-] Bluewing@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

They want your sweater back.....

[-] illi@piefed.social 9 points 2 weeks ago

I remember there used to be a goat on some island (now extinct) that didn't have any predators so it evolved forward facing eyes

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[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Exception: Sloth

[-] Auli@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Sloths are weird all the extinct sloths had side eyes. The ones today dont. I'm guessing depth perception for climbing. Because the list goes really big when arboreal prey animals are involved. Lemurs, sugar gliders monkeys great apes.

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[-] prex@aussie.zone 175 points 3 weeks ago

[-] Senseless@feddit.org 64 points 3 weeks ago

The same facial expression I make one week into the month when looking at my cheque account.

[-] smiletolerantly@awful.systems 38 points 3 weeks ago

I think we can therefore safely conclude that the shark is also looking at your cheque account.

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 18 points 2 weeks ago

Pls respond.

[-] mika_mika@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

hello, yes, this is shark!

[-] mech@feddit.org 125 points 3 weeks ago

Yes Sharky?

CAN I PLEASE MOVE? I'M SUFFOCATING!

[-] notsure@fedia.io 52 points 3 weeks ago

...300 million years, can't sit still, smh...

[-] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 3 weeks ago

The perfect predator. Can’t survive out of water. What are sharks even doing??

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[-] mr_account@lemmy.world 47 points 3 weeks ago

Last time I saw this kind of comment/meme someone pointed out that dragons are usually depicted with eyes on the sides of their head. What hunts them, I wonder

[-] Mr_Fish@lemmy.world 33 points 3 weeks ago

That's like how in dnd lore the tarrasque, basically the biggest, scariest monster, is always depicted with big spikes on its back. Animals evolve spikes like that to ward off predators. That means something at least used to hunt tarrasques

[-] TheOctonaut@mander.xyz 31 points 3 weeks ago

Actually they develop in its juvenile state when they are vulnerable to more mundane predators but are then retained for sexual selection in adulthood.

There is only one tarrasque in existence, resulting in it taking its sexual frustration out on level 20 adventuring parties and parties that keep making fun of the lore- uh, history- of the world they grew up in.

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 26 points 3 weeks ago

Human.

[-] pressanykeynow@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago

Adventurers...

[-] redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 3 weeks ago

Bigger dragons.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 weeks ago

Are we the baddies?

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[-] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 7 points 2 weeks ago

Horny donkeys

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[-] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 30 points 2 weeks ago

That's if sight is your primary sense for hunting / evasion, right?

[-] Zerush@lemmy.ml 30 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

It's not the question if the eyes on the side or in the front, it's about the capability to be able to focusing on a stereoscopic vision to be able to calculate the distances to the prey or not. Side eyes increase the field of vision, which can be advantageous for fleeing animals, but does not exclude that predators can also use it to strategically locate themselves better in the environment. But it is true that animals with frontal vision are generally predatory.

Well....

[-] flora_explora@beehaw.org 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

They also have to orient themselves in a truely 3D landscape, unlike terrestrial predators who hunt on basically a 2D plane. ~~Birds of prey (with the exception of owls) also don't have front-facing eyes, probably for similar reasons~~* (and they're stereoscopic vision also works a bit different I think with very different points of focus).

*see comments below

[-] Zerush@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 weeks ago

Wrong, all birds of prey have front-facing eyes, not only owls

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[-] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 weeks ago

There are lots of reasons to have binocular frontal vision. Redundancy, differing info for optic flow, sensitivity, reducing the frontal blind spot, compensating for retinal blind spots, higher frontal resulution, seeing around things, depth perception...

Most of there are good for predators, but predation isn't the only reason to have them.

[-] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 weeks ago

Is it actually possible for a fish-like animal to have eyes at the front (i.e. an animal with a hydrodynamic shape that spends all its time underwater)?

I feel like that's really difficult for evolution to achieve, especially because the mouth has to go somewhere at the front too. I mean, look at where the lights of a high-speed train are placed and their shape.

Intuitively it feels easier to just put the eyes on the side. Plus it feels like there's a lower risk of damaging them when bumping into something.

[-] drath@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

Is it actually possible for a fish-like animal to have eyes at the front

[-] janus2@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

was gonna snark "me before coffee" but tbh this is also me after coffee too

[-] Hathaway@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 weeks ago

Barreleyes get sorta close. They look up but can look forward too.

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[-] Saapas@piefed.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

Is this the guy who got his bike stolen

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[-] Gladaed@feddit.org 7 points 3 weeks ago

Sharks see with their jaws, though.

[-] zeca@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago

Being a predator is not a property, its a relation. X is a predator of Y... but not of Z, and is a prey of V and not of W.

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago

Axe-u-a-lee...

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this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2025

1169 points (99.6% liked)

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