# Did I damage the bat's eyes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-damage-the-bats-eyes/139944>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 2, 2002, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-damage-the-bats-eyes/139944 "2002-12-02T12:07:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-damage-the-bats-eyes/139944/1 "2002-12-02T12:07:21Z")

</div>

A few weeks ago, I was on vacation on Bintan in Indonesia.  
One evening, we were having drinks at a local kopitiam.  
It had a low thatched ceiling.  
Anyway, to make a long story short, as we were sitting there a small bat flew in and hung up side down from the ceiling.  
It had no fear of us. I decided I wanted to get a photo so I got my camera and approached. I got a real good close up only a couple of inches away.  
The camera flashed and the bat stayed in place. I couldn’t really tell, but it looked a bit confussed and I realized I must have blinded this nocturnal creature. Later, when I looked at the picture, the eyes where ablaze with reflective light.  
So I started wondering. I realize bats mainly navigate through sonar, but could I have caused permanent damage to this creatures nocturnal eyes with the flash of my camera? Or was it just a temporary blinding, like we get when suddenly exposed to bright light in the dark?  
Would be happy if someone could put my guilty conscience to rest.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-damage-the-bats-eyes/139944/2 "2002-12-02T14:04:49Z")

</div>

Found this.

[http://ladywildlife.com/animal/howbatsseeinthedark.html](http://ladywildlife.com/animal/howbatsseeinthedark.html)

> [@](#):
>
> How Well Can Bats “See”?
> 
> It is hard for humans to imagine how bats use only their sense of sound to obtain as detailed a view of their surroundings as we do with sight. Experiments show that bats “see” extremely well. They can tell distance, speed, and direction of movement.
> 
> \< snip \>
> 
> Far from being “blind as a bat,” most bats have reasonable eyesight. Very few fruit eating bats use echolocation.

[http://www.sbnp.org/Wetlands/text/00-7-2-5.htm](http://www.sbnp.org/Wetlands/text/00-7-2-5.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> Some species have better eyesight than others, some have bigger or smaller eye size, and some can or cannot see colours. In general, a bat takes full advantage of available light by increasing the light density, using a reflective structure called “tapetum lucidum” located behind the retina.

This is the same structure that makes deer, cat, and raccoon eyes glow in the oncoming headlights.

I’m going to guess that your average bat has your average nocturnal mammalian eyes, with “reasonable” eyesight (as opposed to the “superb” eyesight of, say, a hawk), and that your batty friend who just dropped in for a drink and had a tourist take his picture when he wasn’t looking, suffered nothing more annoying than spots in front of his eyes for a minute or two, and a private resolve never to go into town until _after_ the tour buses leave. 😃