Whose eyes glow in the dark?
Some animals hide in the dark, but their eyes give them away. Sweep the torch across the night scene and find every animal. Eyes with a mirror layer inside shine back at the torch from far away. The others you have to find the hard way.
Find them in the dark
Drag the torch over the scene, or click it and use the arrow keys. Five animals are hiding.
Found 0 of 5.
The game shows only whether eyes shine, not the colour of the glow: that differs from animal to animal and is not in our data.
A simulation made from published eye studies. Not what the animal feels.
The answers: whose eyes glow?
Eyes that shine in torchlight
- Bottlenose dolphin: Its eyes shine in torchlight: that glow is a mirror layer inside them.
- Cat: Its eyes shine in torchlight: that glow is a mirror layer inside them.
- Cow: Its eyes shine in torchlight: that glow is a mirror layer inside them.
- Dog: Its eyes shine in torchlight: that glow is a mirror layer inside them.
- Horse: Its eyes shine in torchlight: that glow is a mirror layer inside them.
- Saltwater crocodile: Its eyes shine in torchlight: that glow is a mirror layer inside them.
Eyes that stay dark
- Barn owl: Has no mirror layer behind its eyes, just like you.
- Brown rat: Has no mirror layer behind its eyes, just like you.
- Great horned owl: Has no mirror layer behind its eyes, just like you.
- House mouse: Has no mirror layer behind its eyes, just like you.
- Tawny owl: Has no mirror layer behind its eyes, just like you.
Why do some animals' eyes glow in the dark?
They have a mirror layer at the back of the eye. Light that slips past once gets bounced back for a second go, which helps in dim light. Shine a torch at them and some of that light comes straight back at you.
Do dogs' and cats' eyes glow?
Yes. Cat and Dog have the mirror layer, so their eyes shine in a torch beam or a camera flash.
Do owls' eyes glow?
Not the barn owl: it has no mirror layer behind its eyes, just like you.