Your observations seem to be typical, mine has excellent eyesight
and sees me if I even try to peek out the blinds at him outside.
I read (I have lots of tort books and am not looking through
them all right now though.) that torts do rely more on vibrations
than direct hearing. But it also said that their eyesight is
a clear as ours though they are slightly far-sighted. Meaning
they can see things at a distance very clearly and nearby clearly
also. But if it's right in front of their nose it's slightly
blurry, that may be why a lot of them seem to "miss" food sometimes
when eating. If you try to put something right in front of
my tort he doesn't seem to like it "get it out of his face"
I tell my son and then he'll see it better. I suppose if you
were a grazer and could smell very well, it'd be in your interest
to be able to keep a sharp eye on anything that may be approaching.
I actually use hand signals for mine when I want him to come
indoors, or go with me on a walk around the block. I'll use
both hands pointing down and wiggle my fingers (same hand signal
used for a police dog to have it "crawl" towards you under fire)
and that means "come here". Of course I still tell him to come
hear but I think sight does play a bigger role.
