What cats and dogs see when they watch TV: you'll be surprised
Pet owners have probably noticed cats and dogs watching TV more than once. Just like humans, they sit down and watch. Some people think that animals see the same things on TV as humans. And some people wonder what animals can see.
The experts explained why pets sometimes watch TV and even react to what is happening. This was reported by SSPDaily.
How and what dogs see on TV
Dogs have dichromatic vision, while humans have tri-chromatic vision. What does this mean? Dogs can distinguish colors in the blue and yellow ranges, but not green. In addition, the colors on the screen do not look as bright to dogs, and the image itself is blurred.
What about the content? Dogs process the frame rate of screens differently than humans. The minimum number of frames required for a person to perceive a moving image is 16 to 25 frames per second. A dog needs to see 70 frames or more. That's why if a dog watches an old, kinescopic PAL TV with a 50 Hz scan rate, it sees something like a flip book. But modern TVs with a 60-120 Hz screen rate are much more interesting for dogs – they see the picture almost as smoothly as a human.
As for sounds, dogs perceive them just like humans. But they react only to unexpected noise, commands, etc.
What do dogs react to the most on TV
A 2013 study says that nine out of ten dogs, regardless of breed, react to the image of another dog on a TV screen or infrared monitor. So, it's the image of another dog, or the corresponding sounds, that can attract your dog to the TV. But as soon as the dog realizes that he cannot interact with the image on the screen, he will lose interest in it.
Moreover, interest in TV differs from breed to breed. Dogs bred for hunting may be interested in moving objects, while dogs that rely more on smell may be indifferent.
What cats watch on TV
As for cats, everything is simpler. Although cats perceive everything in black and white, they can see everything that is happening on the screen perfectly. Most of all, they react to sudden movements or images of their potential prey.
Scientists have even conducted a study where cats were divided into five groups that were offered different types of content, from people to rodents, small birds, and other animals that cats traditionally hunt. It turned out that cats responded most strongly to images of potential prey. During the experiment, the scientists even had to fix the TV sets, because the cats even turned them over in their attempts to "grab" the prey.