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The Nocturnal Eye
What appears as pitch black to a human may be dim light to a nocturnal animal.
The reason lies in the structure of the eye itself.

Pupils
Nocturnal animals tend to have proportionally bigger eyes than humans do. They
also tend to have pupils that open more widely in low light. So, at the
outset, nocturnal eyes gather more light than human eyes do.
Rods and cones
After the light passes through the pupil, it is focused by the lens onto the
retina, which is connected to the brain by the optic nerve. The retina is an
extremely complex structure. It's made up of at least 10 distinguishable
layers, and is packed with more sensory nerve cells than anywhere else in the
body.
The retina is home to two different kinds of light receptor cells—rods and
cones. (Both are named after their relative shapes.) Cones work in bright
light and register detail, while rods work in low light, detecting motion and
basic visual information. It is the rods that become highly specialized in
nocturnal animals. In fact, many bats, nocturnal snakes and lizards have no
cones at all, while other nocturnal animals have just a few.
Tapetum
Many nocturnal eyes are equipped with a feature designed to amplify the amount
of light that reaches the retina. Called a tapetum, this mirror-like membrane
reflects light that has already passed through the retina back through the
retina a second time, giving the light another chance to strike the
light-sensitive rods. Whatever light is not absorbed on this return trip
passes out of the eye the same way it came in—through the pupil. The
presence of the tapetum can be observed at night when a pair of glowing eyes
reflects back a flashlight or some other light source. (Interestingly,
different animals have different color tapeta, a fact that can aid in nighttime
animal identification.)

Circular vs. slit pupils
One consequence of having extremely light sensitive eyes, is that they must be
adequately protected during the day. Some animals accomplish this with a
retractable eye flap. Others rely on their pupils.
The circular pupil, because of the way the muscle bunches as it contracts, is
the least efficient at closing rapidly and completely. A slit pupil, with two
sides that can close like a sliding door, is far better at this task, which is
why so many nocturnal eyes have slit pupils. These apertures can be vertical,
horizontal, or diagonal.
Night Vision |
Camera that Caught a Leopard
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Seeing through Camouflage
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© | Updated November 2000
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