The Skin That Sees

The fourth morning, Chiara had a colour test. She put three plates on the tank floor. Red. Blue. Yellow.

Štvrté ráno mala Chiara farebný test. Položila tri taniere na dno nádrže. Červený. Modrý. Žltý.

Under one plate, a piece of shrimp was hidden. Today it was under the red plate.

Pod jedným tanierom bola ukrytá kúsok krevety. Dnes to bolo pod červeným tanierom.

"Octopuses are colour-blind," Chiara said. "Their eyes cannot tell colours apart."

"Chobotnice sú farboslepé," povedala Chiara. "Ich oči nedokážu rozlíšiť farby."

"But watch," she said.

"Ale pozrite," povedala.

Pasta uncurled. Two arms went out. They passed over the blue plate. They passed over the yellow plate. They stopped over the red plate. One arm lifted it. Pasta took the shrimp.

Pasta sa rozvinula. Dve ramená sa natiahli. Prešli nad modrým tanierom. Prešli nad žltým tanierom. Zastavili sa nad červeným tanierom. Jedno rameno ho zdvihlo. Pasta si vzala krevetu.

"She is not blind to colour," Chiara said. "But it is not her eyes that see it."

"Nie je slepá na farby," povedala Chiara. "Ale nie sú to jej oči, ktoré to vidia."

Scientists have learned that octopus skin can sense light. The same kind of cells that are in human eyes are in octopus skin. The skin can see colours.

Vedci zistili, že koža chobotníc môže vnímať svetlo. Rovnaký druh buniek, aké sú v ľudských očiach, sú aj v koži chobotníc. Koža dokáže vidieť farby.

This is how a colour-blind animal can copy the colours of coral and sand. The eyes do not see the colours. The skin does.

Takto môže farboslepé zviera napodobniť farby koralov a piesku. Oči nevidia farby. Koža áno.

Polly walked slowly along the rim of the tank. She had never thought about her own eyes. The idea that an animal could see with its skin was very strange.

Polly pomaly kráčala pozdĺž okraja nádrže. Nikdy predtým nerozmýšľala o svojich vlastných očiach. Myšlienka, že zviera môže vidieť svojou kožou, bola veľmi zvláštna.