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When on safari in africa during a night excursion
Sent to Pet Experts April 17 11:38 PM

When on safari in africa during a night excursion I noticed that the predatorial animals eye reflections when lights shined on them were red while the prey animals (antelope) were blue. Why is that?

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Answer
April 17 11:54 PM (16 minutes and 6 seconds later)
         
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It has to do with the different reflective properties of their retinas.
Many nocturnal animals have a mirror-like layer at the back of their eyes called the tapetum which helps them see better in the dark. You can read about the tapetum here
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/leopards/nocturnaleye.html
The red reflection is due to the haemoglobin in the blood in the retinal area and the lack of pigmente there.
When tapetal pigment is present, its color dominates the color of a given animal's reflection and this color somewhat loosely follows coat color in many animals. Green being seen more in darker animals. Different types of animals can have different pigments or absent pigment resulting in the eye shine you see.
Hope this helps you!


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