Tiger tiger, burning bright: the retinal specializations that cause glowing eyes

Tiger tiger, burning bright: the retinal specializations that cause glowing eyes

Bobcats like to chase laser pointers. At least, Moses the bobcat, of Big Cat Rescue, does. As entertaining as I found the sight of a bobcat pouncing at a glowing red dot (which is to say, very), I was more struck by the sight of the eyes, luminous in the darkness. Like any proper biologist, I googled “feline eye glowing”. Allow me to introduce the tapetum lucidum a layer of highly reflective tissue found behind the retina of many vertebrate species that provides, essentially, a second chance at photon detection.

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