Praying Mantises Don Tiny Goggles to Help Us Understand 3-D Vision

Researchers long thought humans were the only critters out there that could see in three dimensions. Known as stereopsis, the trick takes a lot of processing power—and scientists didn’t think many animals had enough brains to do it. But that idea has slowly changed overtime.

During the late 20th century, scientists found that macaques, cats, horses, owls and toads have this superpower. And surprisingly, so does the tiny-brained praying mantises. Now, as Ed Yong reports for the Atlantic, researchers equipped praying mantises with tiny goggles to figure out how stereopsis works in a critter with so few neurons. And it’s unlike anything else yet seen in the animal kingdom. They published their work this week in the journal Current Biology.

The experiment started with the mantises taking a quick dip in the freezer to chill them out before researchers affixed the tiny goggles—two colored filters—on their face with the help of beeswax. The filters allowed the scientists to project different images to each eye, kind of like a rudimentary version 3-D goggles that you’d wear at the movies.

Source

(Newcastle University)

As Ben Guarino at The Washington Post reports, the researchers projected a moving dot against a polka dot background. When they projected the dot into what looked like striking distance, the mantis attempted to grab at it, thinking it was a tasty snack. The attempt at nabbing the dot confirmed that the critters do indeed have 3-D vision.

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Researchers at Newcastle University are hoping to understand more about how mantises see could help develop new kinds of 3D technology for computers and robots.

 

:D :lol: How cute is that