Scientists have found that cats have very good vision, but they are not at all like us. Even cats' eyes are not at all similar to ours, except perhaps in shape. And the pupils of cats can be either round or shrink into a vertical slit. Cat's eyes glowing in the dark sometimes inspire such horror that you can't help but believe in their supernaturalness.
People have long noticed that cats are amazing animals. Only cats can return after being lost or brought thousands of kilometers from their native places.
Only cats and people purr. Superstitions about black cats alone indicate that these animals are worthy of respect and admiration. Cats are believed to bring happiness. In the east, cats are revered. Lamas look after them and allow them to live even in temples.
Gold and silver bells are hung around their necks so that their ringing will scare away evil spirits. A whole book was written about the friendship of the Dalai Lama and a cat called “The Cat of the Dalai Lama.”
There is even a Tiger Temple where lamas care for and train tigers.
And in Japan there are special cafes and entire cat islands for cats.
And they were even executed for killing cats.
Cats need only tiny particles of light to see. Her fundus reflects reflections. That's why a cat's eyes glow in the dark. The same principle of ray refraction is used in road signs.
Behind the retina of a cat's eye there is a unique microscopic mirror - a tapetum. It picks up subtle signals in the spectrum invisible to humans: infrared and ultraviolet. Thus, the cat can see human auras, energetic substances, and ghosts. Maybe that's why she never makes mistakes in people and goes only to good people.
The cat has another one unique organ- this is the third eye. In fact, this organ has nothing to do with vision. This is Jacobson's organ and is located at the base of the cat's mouth. It picks up charges of electricity in the atmosphere: faint ground tremors and vibrations magnetic field. It is thanks to this organ that cats sense earthquakes and other catastrophic harbingers in advance.
Cats besieged Leningrad They sensed the approach of German bombers in advance and fled to the basements. The cats did not react to their planes. People noticed this property of cats and as soon as the cats took off, they also ran for cover.
This same incredible ability of cats saved our artists from the cat theater in 2002 during a tour in Tokyo (Japan). Literally an hour before the performance, the cats began to rush about in their enclosures. The Japanese immediately realized what was happening and shouted that there would be an earthquake. The theater employees grabbed the cats and ran out into the street.
In Naples, near the Vesuvius volcano, cats live in every family and warn residents when the volcano begins to “get agitated.” Cats telepathically sense trouble, and even the death of their owner.
These are the mysterious creatures that surround us.
Often, to an outside observer, it seems that cats’ eyes “glow.” In fact, this returned light flux looks like the glow of the eyes. That is, the glow of a cat’s eyes is nothing more than a reflection of the light flux that entered the animal’s eye through the pupil. Moreover, cats' eyes can glow different colors.
Why do cats have eyes? glowdifferent colors? The point is that The apetum covering the fundus of animals looks like mother of pearl or shiny fish scales. And depending on the impurities of pigments, it may have a green, blue, yellow tint. This is where the eyes of a cat or dog “glow” green, blue or yellow(Fig. 1).
Fig.1 Why do the cat's eyes glow in the photo?
A cat's eyes can also glow red. This is due to one feature of the placement of the tapetum. This reflective membrane can cover the entire fundus or only part of it. Have different shape– triangle, rhombus, crescent.
And then a very interesting effect is obtained - the tapetum gives, say, a rich green reflection, and where it is not there, the fundus of the eye will reflect a weaker one. red.
By shooting with flash, you can get a picture in which the eyes of a dog or cat will glow in different colors. Moreover, there may be cases when two colors are visible in one eye at once. This means that the tapetum in this case covers only part of the fundus (Fig. 2).
Fig.2 The cat's eyes glow in different colors
Therefore, when owners of cats and dogs say that their pets have eyes of different colors, the reason may be due to the characteristics of the tapetum.
Thus, the eyes of cats “glow” due to the reflection of incoming light from the tapetum covering the fundus of the eye.
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As you know, cats have always been considered minions evil spirits, as well as active assistants to witches and sorcerers. The eyes of these animals played a significant role in this. Not only do they have a vertical and narrow pupil, unlike other animals, but cats' eyes glow in the dark!
Agree, something like this could scare anyone in the Middle Ages, because people sacredly believed in gods, evil spirits and otherworldly forces. Today no one can be surprised by such an effect. cat eyes, after all, people have become more educated, but many are still perplexed: why does a cat’s eyes glow in the dark? Let's look at this unusual phenomenon together and find out why this amazing glow occurs.
So why do the eyes glow?
The cat is a domestic predator, a descendant of true hunters, whose lives directly depended on whether they could catch their prey. Powerful paws, a movable spine for instant acceleration, sharp claws - all this was created by evolution to improve the hunting abilities of big cats.
However, these properties were supplemented by one more - thanks to the specific structure of the eye, cats see perfectly in the dark, and can hunt even after sunset. This is undeniable competitive advantage, which was passed on to our pets.
What is the reason for this acute vision? It's all about the structure of the eye - all the light passing through the pupil hits the retina, but only a small part of it causes an impulse in the sensitive cells. That is, if there is special system, allowing you to collect all the remaining light and direct it to light-sensitive cells, vision would be many times sharper. And cats have such a system.
This is the tapetum - or the mirror fundus of the eye, which reflects the transmitted light back. Thus, the light is used twice, significantly increasing visual acuity.
It is this mirror coating that reflects light, creating the illusion of glowing eyes. In domestic cats, it has a different shade - from green to yellow, and thanks to this, the reflection also changes its color.
Simply put, we see light reflected from the fundus of the eye, and the less light there is, the weaker it will be. this effect. And therefore, when they say that cats’ eyes glow in the dark, this is not entirely true, because... there must be at least some source of light. In complete darkness, a cat's eyes, of course, will not glow: they simply will have nothing to reflect.
That's the whole secret of this interesting phenomenon, How glowing eyes in cats. Our pets are full of surprises, and if we want to learn to understand them well, we need to be interested similar phenomena and study your charges.
Cats are one of the most beautiful views animals on our planet. Representatives of the cat family are distinguished by quiet graceful movements, independence, soft fur and, of course, sparkling eyes. Because of this property, cats have since ancient times been considered magical animals, companions of witches, fraught with many secrets. Why do cats' eyes glow in the dark?
Shining eyes – magic or physiology?
In fact, the glow of cat eyes is somewhat of a misconception. The fact is that on the inside of a cat’s eye (like any other animal capable of nocturnal existence), there is a special transparent (“luminous”) layer - tapetum. It consists of guanine (a nitrogenous base) and various pigments that give the animal’s eye a particular color (yellow or green in cats, dark brown or green-blue in dogs, milky white in fish, etc.). Shiny layer plays important role for cats. The fact is that not the entire light beam is perceived by photoreceptors. The tapetum reflects the “remnants” of light onto the retina, resulting in much more signals entering the brain. In this regard, the answer to the question why cats’ eyes glow becomes quite obvious: so that they can see better at dusk and, accordingly, hunt.
Do cat eyes glow in pitch darkness?
But the question of why a cat’s eyes glow at night is not formulated entirely correctly. And the answer to the popular riddle “How to find black cat in a dark room? There is really only one option - turn on the light. In absolute darkness, the tapetum simply has nothing to reflect; accordingly, “glow” will appear only if there is a light source of at least minimal intensity. And if you point, for example, a flashlight towards the animal, the eyes will “flare up” very brightly.
The eyes can “catch” the reflection from a street lamp, the glare of a crystal chandelier, or the light from the screen of a tablet or phone. Of course, one of the main night sources is the moon. Therefore, even if it seems to us that the room is very dark, the lights are turned off, you can still see that same shine.
Sometimes it is so intense that it is even a little scary. The “force” depends on the angle at which the light beam falls on the eye, and at which the person looks at the cat. The brightest reflected rays are those hitting the retina at an angle of 45 degrees, if you look exactly “in the face” of the animal.
The cats themselves do not feel this effect in any way. This conclusion can be drawn by the absence of squinting during the appearance of the glow.
But if a bright beam falls directly, the cat will definitely close her eyes. Indeed, in this case there will be an “overload”, overstimulation of the light receptors of the retina. In turn, in a bright room during the day it is almost impossible to catch the glow effect, because the light penetrates completely into the eye, and the animal sees well without any reflection.
Red eye effect
It would be interesting to note that a person’s eyes can also “glow”. Of course, this property is much less pronounced, because we are spared the need for night vision. However, such a layer in human eye still exists. This is why, in conditions of not very good lighting, the eyes begin to glow red in the photo from a bright flash.
Thus, the glowing eyes of cats are not magic at all, but an adaptive element.
On a bright day, apathy comes over the cats. They are able to lie for hours without moving under the warm rays of the sun. IN winter time they try to grab a place near the radiator or in a warm chair. But with the arrival of darkness, the behavior of animals changes. They are active, which even causes discontent among vacationing owners. At night, genes from distant ancestors are activated in cats wildlife, who began to hunt at the end of the day. It is precisely for such a case that nature provides a special structure for cat’s eyes, which have the ability to capture even weak light - the radiance of the moon, star rays and even the glare of a flame. Let's try to figure out why a cat's eyes glow in the dark, at night.
Why is it possible that a cat’s eyes glow in the dark?
Naturally, today scientists have long found an explanation for such amazing abilities, and cats have turned from mysterious creatures into harmless pets. But their eyes continue to glow in the dark with a bright and sometimes frightening light.
