After all, how do you distinguish objects that are animals from a non-animals except for the way they move (or not)?

Even in the dark they could distinguish people and objects by scent, like dogs.

Then, before their eyes could distinguish objects in the thick darkness, they heard some one scramble into the car beside them.

And at what ages can children distinguish mechanical objects from real animals or people?

It was only just light enough to distinguish objects, and I had to stop and face my enemy, to keep him at bay.

Through the weave of the cloth he could distinguish large objects.

The afternoon was waning; the insufficient light in the little room of death made it difficult to distinguish objects.

The moon was going down behind the hill, but there was light enough for her to distinguish objects.

"But can you really distinguish objects in this kind of total darkness?"

In the last of the three I could just distinguish objects, and that was all.