Is it true that eagles can look at the sun without blinking?

From time immemorial, it is generally accepted that the eagle is a unique bird, because it has the ability to look at the sun, not hiding their eyes. We checked how much this view corresponds to the truth.

The old birds are actively reported by ancient Bestiaria. In the collection of lives of saints "Golden Legend", considered The most popular book of the late Middle Ages after the Bible, the monk Jacob Vuraginsky writes: “The eagle is truly the most keen bird that can look at the sun and not blind ...” Some modern sources Addthat in the same way the eagle checks the resistance of his chicks - those that turn away from the sun, he throws out of the nest. From others Resources can be found out that the yogis adopted this habit of the eagles - they are sure that the systematic practice in the consideration of the sun likens human vision with Orlin. Moreover, Emperor Alexander III himself, according to historians, He said Doctors: “The eagle always looks right in the sun, is not afraid of light, does not spoil his eyes and has especially sharp vision; That is why I do not agree that the dishevefers and hats are harmful to the soldiers, which they constantly repeat to me. ”

Belief was also reflected in fiction - they turned to it Fedor Tyutchev, Gaito Gazdanov, Marina Tsvetaeva, Dante Aligieri, William Shakespeare, Henry Ryder Haggard And many other authors.

To confirm the justice of the legend, however, we need more authoritative sources. Aristotle, of course, is a great person, but information from the IX book of his large -scale work "Animal History" (“The sea eagle has the most acute vision and forces the children when they are still without feathers, look at the sun, and not wanting to hit and turns, and whose eyes begin to wate earlier, it kills, but it feeds the other”), due to its antiquity, it is difficult to consider seriously. The same goes for and Pliny the elder.

If we turn to modern science, then the following is clarified. Of course, the vision of the eagle is unique in many ways and is not in vain considered the reference: this bird can See the rabbit From a distance of more than 3 km. But visual acuity is a slightly different characteristic, and as for blinking, it is not alien to the eagles, like other birds. In addition to the sedentary external eyelids, which create the visibility of blinking rather, the eagles have a migratory membrane. When blinking, she closes the whole eye, which is especially clearly visible during slowing down:

Further, the oversized arcs located in the upper part of the eagle skull perform two functions - they protect the eyes from the blow and from direct sunlight. Specialists Emphasizethat with the lifestyle that the eagles lead and the white -headed eagles are very similar to them in structure (constant staying on the tops of trees or in the air), they need a similar precaution. Thus, this is another coin in the piggy bank of the unpreparedness of the eagle eye to direct contact with the sun's rays.

The fact that an old belief is a fiction, it is also said in zoological articlepublished in the magazine "Rainbow" in 2003. Well, what is the main thing, in no authoritative, scientific or near -resident modern source, such a unique property of the eagles is confirmed, not to mention the practice of throwing out “non -living” chicks from the nest. With a high probability, ancient people simply did not have time to fix the blinking of the eagles, produced by a blinking membrane. From all of the above, we can conclude that a beautiful legend remained a legend.

Most likely not true

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