Examples that show the transfer of our basic knowledge of brain function into practical electronic models are rare. Here we present a user-friendly silicon model of the early visual system that contributes to animal welfare. The silicon chip emulates the neurons in the visual system by using analog Very Large Scale Integration (aVLSI) circuits. It substitutes for a live animal in experiment design and lecture demonstrations. The neurons on this chip display properties that are central to biological vision: receptive fields, spike coding, adaptation, band-pass filtering, and complementary signaling. Unlike previous laboratory devices whose complexity was limited by the use of discrete components on printed circuit boards, this battery-powered chip is a self-contained patch of the visual system. The realistic responses of the chip's cells and the self-contained adjustment-free correct operation of the chip suggest the possibility of implementation of similar circuits for visual prosthetics.