The human eye is one of evolution’s greatest achievements. It can see tiny dust specks and huge mountains, near or far, in full colour. Backed by the processing power of our brains, it can also pick out movement and help us identify the people we love just by their faces.

One of the eye’s best tricks is so good, you don’t notice it. When you step from the brightly-lit outdoors into a dimly-lit building, the light level drops massively, but your eyes adjust almost immediately. That’s because they have evolved to work even when there isn’t much light around.

But other species are even better in dim light. Try reading a newspaper in the gloom of twilight, and the black letters will merge with the white background into a smoky greyness that your eyes cannot decipher. However, hand the paper to a cat and it would be fine, or at least it would if it knew how to read.

Read more on the BBC Earth website.