Eye shape reveals whether an animal is predator or prey, new study shows

A close look at the eyes of 214 types of animal has revealed a relationship between the shape of the pupil and the animal's ecological niche

The eyes say it all. They answer questions about a creature's social scale, and its place in the pecking order. The geometry of the eye indicates whether an animal is the hunter, or the hunted - and how tall it walks.

Scientists from the Universities of California Berkeley and Durham in Britain have
discovered just how much they can learn from pupils. As every householder knows, when the domestic cat narrows its eyes to slits, it does so vertically. Sheep, deer and horses however have eyes with horizontally elongated pupils.

Related: Eyes give insight into evolution