Nocturnal Animals

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Nocturnal Animals
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What does nocturnal mean?

• This refers to animals that sleep during the
  daytime and are awake during the nighttime.
• They can be mammals or reptiles.

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The Eyes Have it!

• Nocturnal animals have special pupils that help
  them see well at night.
• Their pupils can sometimes seem to glow when
  light shines on them.

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The Pupils!

• Their pupils come in different shapes.
• Some pupil shapes are better than others at
  closing in bright light.

http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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A video on Nocturnal Cats
World's Best Series Wild Cats. BBC.
2001.unitedstreaming. 17 September
2006lthttp//www.unitedstreaming.com/gt
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Look at these eyes and see if you can guess the
nocturnal animal they belong to.
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Can you guess who I am?
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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A Cuttlefish
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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• The cuttlefish is a cephalopod that buries itself
  in sediment by day and becomes active at night.
  The pupil of its highly sensitive eye, which sees
  as well as a human eye, is protected with a
  flap-like appendage that can close completely in
  bright light.

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Can you guess who I am?
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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A Fruit Bat
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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• Fruit bats are far from blind. In fact, they rely
  primarily on their eyes for navigation -- unlike
  most bats, who navigate by echolocation.

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Can you guess who I am?
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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A Flying Gecko
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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• Geckos have eyesight comparable to a cat, giving
  them the best eyesight of all lizards. The flying
  gecko has an unusual scalloped pupil. When fully
  contracted, the pupil can close completely --
  except for a few tiny pinholes where the
  scalloped edges do not quite meet.

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Can you guess who I am?
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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• Pit vipers use two senses to better locate prey
  at night sight and a heat-detecting ability.
  Deep pits, which lie on each side of the snake's
  face between the nostril and the eye, are capable
  of sensing the warmth given off by a human hand
  held a foot away. Heat and visual data are sent
  to the pit-viper's brain, where the two types of
  data are transposed into a single image of the
  prey.

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Can you guess who I am?
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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• So extraordinary is an owl's night vision, it can
  spot a mouse creeping through the underbrush more
  than a football field away on a moonless night.

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Can you guess who I am?
http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
html
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• The tarsier of Southeast Asia has the largest
  eyes relative to body size of any living
  creature. The eyes are so enormous that they
  cannot be moved in their sockets. To compensate,
  tarsiers can swivel their necks 180 degrees in
  either direction. Though most nocturnal primates
  eat insects, the tarsier likes meat and has the
  vision, speed and reflexes to catch small prey in
  pitch darkness.

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Nocturnal animals are fascinating!
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Works Cited

• All pictures and information obtained from
• NOVA Online
• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/nightvision.
  html