CARTOONISTS love to sketch endearing animals with larger-than-life eyes. But according to a new survey, the reality is rather different: for many vertebrates the relationship between the size of a creature’s eye and its body follows a classic mathematical formula.
A well-known mathematical relationship is known to link body weight and the size of certain organs. For instance, in many vertebrates brain weight is proportional to body weight raised to the power of 0.66.
One study has suggested that there is a different, semi-logarithmic relationship between vertebrates’ eye and body size. But in a much larger study, Howard Howland and…
