There are some reasons why cat can see well even in the dark. It’s because of tapetum lucidum behind the retina, more elastic pupils, and large amount of rod cells.

Tapetum lucidum is a mirror that sits behind the retina of cats. Its function is to reflect back the light that enters the retina, so the retina will receive much more light. The light passes the retina twice. After passing it for the second time, so the light’s passed  on pupils, and the light’s emitted back to the eyes. This causes the cats eyes glowing when receive the light in low intensity. This ability of reflecting the light can improve the night vision of the cat (in the dark).

Do you know? Pupils in the cats eyes has an ability to dilate three times greater than humans. When it receives a little light, it will dilate till almost 90% of the eyes so that makes the eyes are esier to catch the light. On the contrary, when the pupils receive much more light it will get small and soon change into a small vertical line. Those are what make the cats can see well in the dark.

Photoreceptors contained in retina also support the cat’s exceptional ability. Retina contains more cells that are sensitive to the light stimulus which is called as rod cells, than the cone cells which are sensitive to the color stimulus. Rod cells will help the retina to respond the light more.

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