Cats are nocturnal animals; that is, they remain active when the sun goes down. In order to move safely, his body has evolved in order to adapt as best as possible to his environment, and one of the things he has achieved is to be able to see in the dark as long as there is some light the moon for example, or a lamppost).
But in doing so many of us have asked ourselves more than once Why do cats have eyes that glow in the dark?. If you also want to have the mystery solved, keep reading!
How do cat eyes work?
First of all, it is important to know how the eyes of our dear furry friends work. Well, when light bounces off an object, it reflects off the cornea, which is a transparent shield that protects the eyeball, and focuses it. This light filters into the iris, which is the colored part of the eye, through the pupil. There, in the pupil, it will be enlarged in the dark to be able to capture more light, or it will be reduced to enter less. The muscles of the iris are the ones that contract or dilate it.
The incoming light passes the lens, which will refocus it. Later, continue its way into the eye, colliding with the retina whose nerve cells (they are called cones and rods) send signals to the brain through the optic nerve. Once it reaches the brain, it will record an image.
Why do your eyes glow in the dark?
You might think that the eyes of cats work exactly the same as those of humans, but it would not be entirely correct: the hairy have the tapetum lucidum, which is a special cellular layer located in the posterior section of the eyes. East reflects light back to the cells of the retina, as if it were a mirror.
For this reason, even if there is very little light in a place, they can see things that we simply are not able to distinguish. Also, this is also the reason why your eyes are bright in the evening.
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