Reptile & Amphibian Forums

for binocular animals(humans), eyesight when it goes to the primary visual cortex is banded, because both eyes are seeing the same thing, and are both sending info on that one thing and the brain doesn't need two bits of the same info, so it deletes one, and that's why there are bands.

animals like frogs with eyes on the sides of their heads never see the same thing with both eyes and therefore do not have this phenomenon.

for chameleons that have the ability for binocular and independent vision, what happens with them? are they more like humans or frogs?

i only know that their vision is binocular, but they need both eyes to really see something with depth and clarity. they have a very limited field of view, which is why the loss of one eye can be fatal to them.
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groups.msn.com/JEChameleons
1.1 Chameleo Calyptratus
1 Chameleo Melleri

Certainly losing an eye would be a big handicap, but chams with one damaged eye (old healed injuries, no due to capture) have been imported fairly frequently. There was a study done with captive jacksons on their ability to compensate for loss of an eye. The cham was temporarily blinded in 1 eye (tape or a cloth patch) and they found that within a few days his ability to catch prey and move around his territory was almost normal. There may be an indepth discussion of cham eyesight in Petr Necas' book Chameleons: Nature's Hidden Jewels. I will look, unless someone here knows at the moment.