Eye Color

S

SteveA

Joined
Apr 28, 2000
Messages
17
I had this thought tonight as I caught a look at some bright blue eyes as the headlights reflected from some furry li'l critter on the side of the road. Is the reflected color entirely dependent on the beam that hits the eyes? Like halogen headlights, in this case. Or do different animal's eyes reflect differently? And if the eyes have something to do with it, is there any list of what colors go with which animals?

Just seems like the kind of thing a guy who already studies gaits and toes and claws and leaves and bark and so on, ought to be interested in.

Thanks,
Steve
 
Different critters do have different colored reflections, though I couldn't give you a full list. It's something I've noticed, without really trying to categorize it. The funkiest-looking eyes, though, are goats. Went out to my goat pen to check on them at night a while back (lots of coyotes around here), and the whole herd looked at me at the same time. Ten pairs of the weirdest, greenish-yellow eyes staring back in the reflection of a three d-cell flashlight. Creepy. :~}
 
Animals with good night vision have a reflective layer behind the retina so the light is bounced back thru the retina (image sensor)

this gives the retina two passes at absorbing enough photons to register an image. hence better nigth vision than us humans.

The colour comes from the reflectivity of the retina not the colour of the eye which is in the iris which is outside the hold the ligth passes thru.

this is also why they retro-reflect in a flashlight beam.

just like a road sign....

 
Try looking into a wolf's eyes at night (or a Siberian Husky, since they are genetically very close to wolves, and are slightly safer to approach in the dark
smile.gif
). Bright red-purple color, near as I can describe it. Very intimidating, to those who don't understand and expect it.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
A man was lamping foxes the other night. This is a common practice in the UK. He took his aim at two green eyes reflected from the light of his lamp. A perfect shot but it was a Labrador dog and worst still the owner was on the other end of the lead (and on a public footpath).
He lost his firearm licence, was fined heavily and was lucky not to get a custodial sentence.

Don't count on the colour, never shoot where you can't see, identify the target fully and double check your backstop.

You can have the same problem with light itensifiers.

Eyes tend to be red, yellow or green.
 
Have seen one alligator that reflected red light, a damn spookie thing to see in the middle of the night.

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wdg123
Don't ignore the truth just because it's obvious
 
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