News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why extraterrestrial life may not seem alien. Parent comment

Re:Why extraterrestrial life may not seem alien by imbnwa on Monday August 02, 2021 @10:28PM (#28045112)
Can echo location be used for depth perception?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why extraterrestrial life may not seem alien by godelski on Tuesday August 03, 2021 @12:36AM (#28045756)
Yes but it is very expensive. Here's some more on bats[0] (mentions expensive echolocation around 5:45 and moving from sonic location to echolocation evolution). Eyes do also convey more information. You can get colors in addition to depth and shape and that's a good reason and easy path for eyes to develop since light sensing is a pretty easy thing to develop. Also, bats aren't blind, despite common belief.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWeYCULC0UQ

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why extraterrestrial life may not seem alien by ncmncm on Tuesday August 03, 2021 @06:09PM (#28054835)
It can. One eye and echolocation gives you everything you get with two eyes except redundancy.

Cyclops got by with one eye and throwing rocks.

[ Parent | on HN ]