Have you ever noticed that your dog’s eyes glow at night? If you have, have you wondered why they are luminescent in the evening hours? Here is what I have found about this mysterious glow.
The tapetum lucidum are a mirror-like layer of cells at the back of a dogs eyes that improve their vision in dim light and especially at night. We see the dogs’ eyes glow at night, since that’s when the pupils are dilated wide enough for the tapetum lucidum to be visible. Our eyes don’t shine like this at night, as we do not have a tapetum lucidum. The color of the glow ranges between green to yellow. The breed of the dog, age and color also influences that glowing sheen.
Dogs are not the only animals who have glowing eyes at night. Night-hunter animals have this mirror-like layer of cells including deer, cats, cattle, horses and ferrets. If you’d like to learn more about this topic visit this website.