Why do cats glow in the dark?

The content of the article

1 Sparkling eyes, what is it: magic or physiological feature?
2 Will the cat's eyes glow in total darkness?
3 When does red eye appear?
4 Video: why do cats glow in the dark

Cats are animals that are extraordinarily beautiful and stand out among many species on our planet. Representatives of the cat family have some features in their appearance that make these animals so graceful and beautiful. Cats are loved primarily for soft and silky hair, sophisticated movements, as well as independent behavior. There is also another interesting property of these animals - it is sparkling eyes in the dark.

It is this feature from ancient times that made cats be considered magical animals, the beloved pets of witches, which conceal a large number of secrets. Many questions arise about why cats have eyes that glow in the dark?

Sparkling eyes, what is it: magic or physiological feature?

If you look in more detail at this phenomenon, you can understand that the sparkling eyes in cats is a common misconception. The fact is that all animals that have the ability to exist at night have a special shell on the inside of the eye called tapetum. This layer contains guanine, as well as various pigments, which give the eyes of animals a certain color. In representatives of the cat family, this is most often green or yellow, in dogs - dark brown shades or varieties of blue. But fish have eyes with a milky hue.

It is this transparent layer of tapetum that gives some glow to the cat's eye. It is of considerable importance to these animals, helping them to see better under various conditions. The main problem of the organs of vision is that photoreceptors do not perceive all the colors that appear before them. A transparent layer comes to the rescue, which reflects the remaining light on the retina. As a result, more information enters the brain. Accordingly, nature is arranged so that the glow in the eyes of cats helps them to see better in the dark, and, accordingly, makes it possible to hunt at night. However, do not confuse the reflection of light from its source. Cat's eyes are not lights that can shine in the dark, the principle of functioning of the tapetum is somewhat different.

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Will the cat's eyes glow in total darkness?

There is a fairly popular riddle that asks the question of how to find a cat in absolute darkness. The solution in this case will be the inclusion of light. Many people answer this question that a cat can be found by glowing eyes, however, this is not so. As it was already possible to understand, the sparkling layer in the eyes of a cat is not capable of producing a glow on its own, it needs at least some minimal source of light to reflect this light. For example, if you point a flashlight or other powerful light source towards the animal, you will see how the cat's eyes literally flare up.

Surprisingly, the tapetum can reflect even small, barely noticeable glare, for example, light from electronic gadgets, glare from crystal glassware or a chandelier, reflections of a street lamp. At night, the main source of light is the moon. For this reason, even in a rather dark room you can see the sparkle of cat's eyes.

Sometimes the cat’s glow is so strong that this phenomenon is even a little scary. It should be noted that the brightness depends not only on the light source, but also on the angle at which light falls on the transparent layer of the animal’s eye. In addition, it affects the strength of the glow and the angle at which a person looks at the cat's eyes.The brightest shine can be seen when the light hits the retina of the cat’s eye at an angle of 45 degrees, and the person at the same time looks directly into the animal’s face.

Representatives of the cat family themselves do not notice a similar effect and the difference between the intensity of light reflection from the transparent layer of the retina. You can see that this is indeed the case when changing the direction of light to the cat's eye, as well as the strength of the source’s glow. With such changes, it can be noted that the animal does not observe a typical squeezing in this situation.

But you can notice the squinting in a cat when the light falls directly on the retina of the animal’s eye. The fact is that in this case, a kind of overload and severe irritation of the light receptors located on the retina of the eye occur. In the daytime, in a bright room it is almost impossible to note the effect of the retina glow, since under such conditions the light penetrates completely into the eye, as a result of which the light does not need to be reflected from the transparent layer. In this case, the cat sees very well even without additional help.

When does red eye appear?

An interesting fact is that a person's eyes can also glow like a cat. Of course, in humans this property does not appear as intense as in cats or other animals, because a person is not able to see in the dark. Actually, we don’t have such a need, since people do not hunt in the dark, and indeed they get food by other means. However, a similar transparent layer is still present in the structure of the human eye. This feature in conditions of poor visibility with a bright flash gives the effect of red eyes in photographs. To get rid of this phenomenon, you just need to prepare good lighting indoors before shooting.

Thus, we can conclude that the glow of the eyes in cats is an effect that has nothing to do with magic. This fact should be regarded only as an element of adaptation to living conditions. In addition, it can be understood that in the red-eye effect, people do not have anything supernatural and unusual. These phenomena are quite easily explained in terms of physiology.

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