Big predators live in the forest around the house in Arnold, and whenever I go outside at night or early morning, I look for eyeshine. As I scan the surrounding dark forest area with my powerful flashlight, if I encounter any eyeshine, then I am alerted to the presence of the animal even before I can see it. So I can take precautions to protect Candy, Teddy, and myself.
I first heard the term “Eyeshine” during nature shows, and I now see it in my photos, but what is “Eyeshine?” Why does it occur in animals and not humans?
I found the following detailed description of Eyeshine in Wikipedia.
“Eyeshine is a visible effect of the tapetum lucidum. When light shines into the eye of an animal having a tapetum lucidum, the pupil appears to glow. Eyeshine can be seen in many animals, in nature, and flash photographs. In low light, a hand-held flashlight is sufficient to produce eyeshine that is highly visible to humans (despite our inferior night vision).“
“Humans use scanning for reflected eyeshine to detect and identify the species of animals in the dark, and deploying trained search dogs and search horses at night, as these animals benefit from improved night vision through this effect.”
All of my field cameras have night vision capabilities, and none are using a flash. Each of my photos clearly show eyeshine. I can say that all of the mammals that live around my house or travel the game trails all exhibit eyeshine.
Each of the following photos shows the eyeshine of my beautiful young female black bear, Rose.
I have shared these photos before but never focusing on the eyeshine. Look at Rose’s sweet face. In each picture, Rose is looking at the house, probably wondering if that crazy lady with the camera is going to run out and try to take her picture.
Even my sweet little Teddy and Candy exhibit eyeshine in the dark. I know that their vision is far superior to mine in the dark and I trust their reactions immediately.
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