this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myotragus

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[–] [email protected] 77 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I'm going to guess as an island species, it had no natural predators, and therefore the evolutionary pressure for it to have a wide field of view did not exist

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Probably, although there would still need to be some evolutionary pressure for forward facing eyes... I wonder what it is.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Depth perception is advantageous. It is even beneficial for island goat activities.

With the absence of natural predators, the disadvantages of the narrow field of view are mostly outweighed by the advantages of depth perception .

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Not necessarily, with “genetic drift” random phenotypic changes can happen that have a neutral effect on fitness. So if they don’t need side-facing eyes, then this can just happen randomly. Especially if the sideways eyes are in some way “costly” to maintain

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

If sideways eyes are "costly" compared to forward facing eyes, then that would technically be a push for forward facing.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Or goats just find forward facing eyes to be sexier.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There was an interesting study done with zebra finches. In it they glued fake mohawkes on males and found that females selected them over unaltered males, even though it didn't naturally occur in the species. So there is some precedence for the possibility that the forward facing eyes were simply "sexier".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I mean you can do a smoldering sexy look at someone if your eyes face sideways. Makes total sense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Depth perception.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Derception.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Derpception

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I've always wondered if there was a term for evolutionary changes that weren't needed!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

I'm not sure for that specific case, but in the general case there doesn't need to be evolutionary pressure for change. If there is no pressure one way or the other random mutations can (and will over time) cause change without environmental reason (genetic drift).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

maybe living in caves?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

Curious to consider that by being an apex consumer, it is a predator by default, even if its prey is flora.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I mean, it it has pupils like that, it has a wide field of vision. That's the whole point of rectangular pupils. I would assume that having front-facing eyes would also give it depth perception, but maybe it needed that for making difficult jumps or something?