• Question from:Christina Bernhard

G'day,

I have read that some ferrets may have infra-red vision. Is this possible and if so are there other mammals who can detect infra-red wavelength (with their eyes)? Their night vision would be 'awesome'. How would this work and what would they see?

Regards,
Christina

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  • Natural History Museum, London, UK
  • Posts: 113

I googled this quickly and it seems that the study you have heard of was undertaken as there was a suspicion that ferrets could see infrared cameras used to monitor wild animals. (These cameras emit infrared light just as normal cameras might use a flash). Although it seems that some ferrets are sensitive to infrared light it is likely right at the end of their visual range and so it is unlikely that they see much. I'm afraid I don't know if such abilities are possessed by other mammals, but  the fact that so many other species can be filmed at night in this way it seems likely that they don't.