Sometimes two eyes just aren't enough, thankfully the
And there is even a lizard-like animal in New Zealand that naturally has three eyes. This three-eyed animal is called a tuatara. The third eye of a tuatara, located on the top of its head, has all of the right parts: a lens, a retina, and nerves leading to the brain.
A unique calf has been born with four nostrils and three eyes and locals believe it is an incarnation of God. The Holstein Friesian jersey cow was born on a farm in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, India, where locals are queuing up to visit the 'sacred animal'.
A parietal eye, also known as a third eye or pineal eye, is a part of the epithalamus present in some vertebrates. The eye is located at the top of the head, is photoreceptive and is associated with the pineal gland, regulating circadian rhythmicity and hormone production for thermoregulation.
The tuatara has a third eye on the top of its head called the parietal eye. It has its own lens, a parietal plug which resembles a cornea, retina with rod-like structures, and degenerated nerve connection to the brain.
So, snakes join most mammals, birds, turtles, and most amphibians5 in having lost their parietal eyes but retaining a photosensitive pineal organ in the brain that is not directly exposed to the outside of the skull.
UNLIKE invertebrates, most of which have at least four eyes, vertebrates usually have only two. Yet, there are exceptions. Some fish, amphibians and reptiles have a third, so-called parietal, eye.
In addition, he has uncovered the genetic clues shown that the evolutionary timing of the loss of the parietal eye (via loss of parietopsin and parapinopsin genes) in turtles and crocodiles (and birds) matches the fossil record, or heat sensitive “third eye” organ found in lizards, as well as other special adaptations.
A farmer's jersey cow has given birth to a rare calf with three eyes and four nostril holes in a village in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon. As the word spread, a large number of people are queuing up at the farmer's house to worship the calf calling it an "incarnation of God".
In most cases, the idea of a third eye is symbolic, but it does raise the question… are there any animals that actually possess a third eye? Short Answer: Yes, but it is more commonly called a parietal eye, and is only found in certain species of lizards, sharks, bony fish, salamanders and frogs.
Another clam, known as the disco clam (Ctenoides ales), has about 40 eyes. But its vision is poor; it couldn't even detect flashing reflected from a nearby disco clam, according to research covered by Live Science.
Summary: Box jellyfish may seem like rather simple creatures, but in fact their visual system is anything but. They've got no fewer than 24 eyes of four different kinds.
In spirituality, the third eye often symbolizes a state of enlightenment. The third eye is often associated with religious visions, clairvoyance, the ability to observe chakras and auras, precognition, and out-of-body experiences.
These kittens are also thought to be caused by a deformity and end up with three eyes with the two middle ones often merging into one. Dubbed "Janus" cats after the Roman god portrayed as having two faces, many have made it into mainstream attention, but like this Reddit cat, rarely live long.
Today, only the jawless lampreys have four eyes. The third and fourth eyes refer to pineal and parapineal organs, eye-like photosensory structures on the top of the head that play key roles in orientation and in circadian and annual cycles.
While having more than two eyes is not unusual in the animal kingdom, having specifically five-eyes, and in this arrangement is. To the best of the author's knowledge, Kylinxia and Opabinia are the only two animals in the fossil record that currently share this anatomy.
The unusual anatomy of the newborn calf, born on January 13, has prompted people to consider it as an incarnation of Lord Shiva, who is said to have “trinetra” or three eyes. “The calf has an additional eye in the middle of her forehead and also four holes in the nostril.
Some beasts are sacred in Hinduism, with the cow among the most revered. The group believes the third eye in the middle of the calf's forehead means it is special and should be pampered rather than killed.
The cow has four stomachs and undergoes a special digestive process to break down the tough and coarse food it eats. When the cow first eats, it chews the food just enough to swallow it. The unchewed food travels to the first two stomachs, the rumen and the reticulum, where it is stored until later.
A few species, mostly reptiles and amphibians, actually have a third eye on the top of their head to measure daylight, complete with a lens and retina—similar, but not identical, to the forward-facing eyes. Only leatherbacks, as far as we know, have the skylight.
The only exceptions are the 23 living species of crocodilians (alligators, caimans, crocodiles and gharials) who, like birds and mammals, have four-chambered hearts with two atria and two ventricles (Jones, 1996; Jensen et al., 2014).
Crocodile tears, or superficial sympathy, is a false, insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief.
Some species of dragonfly have more than 28,000 lenses per compound eye, a greater number than any other living creature.
Lizards do technically have three eyes! Just don't expect to see a huge third eyeball jutting out of your bearded dragon's head anytime soon. In truth, your lizard's parietal eye is much, much smaller and less developed than their main two eyes they rely on for sight.
Several other lizard family members also have distinct third eyes, including anoles. So do lampreys - yes, the fish. "This so-called third eye is smaller than the so-called 'lateral eyes' (the two we're familiar with as humans)," Smith says. Snakes and some other lizard lineages, like geckos, lost their third eye.