Beso - “Some animals that live in the Arctic has ultraviolet vision because snow and ice reflect it.”
I know. Amazing isn't it? Also, it has to be said that the human eye is pretty poor in low light conditions compared to say, a dog or a cat as we lack a tapetum lucidum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum
Another example, if one were needed, that bears out your statement, “There are many examples of very poor engineering in the design of animals...”. And we are, of course, just animals. I have some information that my be of interest to you but I don't really want to post it directly onto here; is there any chance you can contact me on
[email protected]. It would be difficult to argue that we humans would be worse off with an increased ability to see well in the dark. God must have been having an 'off' day when he designed human beings.