Why Do Wild Cats Have So Many Different Eye Colors?

image via New Scientist

February 17, 2025, 11:45 AM

• •Scientists have harnessed the Internet's abundant wild cat photographs to chart the transition from brown eyes to colors such as green and blue.
• •The authors analyzed the clearest images submitted to the database iNaturalist.org, then classified each cat's eye color and mapped the data to the cat family tree.
• •The scientists next tried to connect the discovered eye colors with numerous factors, including habitat, fur color and hunting behavior, to help explain why those shades had evolved. But they found little correlation.

Wild cats have a stunning diversity of eye colors, proving a mystery for researchers because most wild species are known to have narrow eye color schemes. Scientists have harnessed the Internet's abundant wild cat photographs to chart the transition from brown eyes to colors such as green and blue.

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