# Why do some animals' eyes glow a lot when light shines on them... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2019, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064 "2019-03-13T12:35:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064/21 "2019-03-16T06:20:59Z")
Are you talking about the same thing as the glow you get in flash photography? Because that is a well documented phenomenon, particularly the fact that most cats have a green eye-glow, but Siamese glow red, due to an albino gene. Look it up and you’ll find various articles discussing it, though [the first one that came up for me said Siamese glow yellow](http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/why-do-my-cats-eyes-glow-in-the-dark). It’s kind of fun to collect photos showing various glows - I did so years ago, but no longer have those records. As far as I can recall, though, this was the collection: human = red albino-gened cats = red regular cats = green dogs = blue I might have had more colors and/or animals, but that is all I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064/22 "2019-03-16T06:49:20Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Are you talking about the same thing as the glow you get in flash photography? Not really. The eye shine of animals that have it shows up with just a flashlight or headlamp because they have a tapetum lucidum. As mentioned previously, humans don’t show eye shine with lower intensity light, but do show the red eye effect with flash photography. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064/23 "2019-03-16T19:00:18Z")
Dog lasers are no way uniform–I have plenty of pics of my dogs and they have very different colors. The late Widget had [orange/red lasers](https://i.imgur.com/nn0Laig.jpg) and lab/husky Bear has [blue/green](https://i.imgur.com/dsTj1lL.jpg). Definitely not a fluke, I have tons of pics that show clearly they have [different eye laser colors](https://i.imgur.com/IFUJly2.jpg) even though both had normal brown dog eyes. I don’t have flash pics of her but red heeler cross Shoga has orange lasers too. What makes them different? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064/24 "2019-03-16T19:16:50Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Dog lasers are no way uniform–I have plenty of pics of my dogs and they have very different colors. The late Widget had [orange/red lasers](https://i.imgur.com/nn0Laig.jpg) and lab/husky Bear has [blue/green](https://i.imgur.com/dsTj1lL.jpg). Definitely not a fluke, I have tons of pics that show clearly they have [different eye laser colors](https://i.imgur.com/IFUJly2.jpg) even though both had normal brown dog eyes. I don’t have flash pics of her but red heeler cross Shoga has orange lasers too. What makes them different? That’s definitely weird. I’ve seen or heard of white, yellowish, red, orange, and pale greenish yellow eye shine in different species, but I’ve never seen such a clear blue. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064/25 "2019-03-16T19:28:10Z")
So my dog’s a mutant then? This explains much! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064/26 "2019-03-16T19:29:03Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > So my dog’s a mutant then? This explains much! 😃 Either that, or possessed by demons. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064/27 "2019-03-16T19:46:27Z")
Either way, that’s pretty clearly Bear! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-animals-eyes-glow-a-lot-when-light-shines-on-them/831064.md?page=1)