The eyes have it

The "Eyes" Have It

Travelling by night, the animals that are up and about give themselves away when their eyes reflect our headlights or flashlights.

Objective: to become aware of the animals that are nocturnal, to be able to figure out the animals by the size and location of their eyes.

Background:	We often see the reflection of our headlights or flashlight in the eyes of nocturnal animals. Most of the animals are stunned or blinded by the light and freeze for a few minutes before they move out of the way. You can guess which animals you see by the size and placement of their eyes.
Skills:	Ability to judge size and distance
Age:	Grades 1 – adult
Materials:	Several sets of eyes, flashlights
Preparation	Make several sets of eyes by tracing nickels, dimes, and quarters on reflective tape. You can then put these "eyes" on cardboard or ribbon. Decide where you want to take you night walk. You may want to do this in a gym, basement or other indoor and enclosed area for younger children, or outdoors for older children. Use the appropriate size coin for making the eyes. For example, a skunk or cat’s eyes would be about the size of a dime, a wolf or coyote the size of a nickel, and a deer or owl the size of a quarter. Place the "eyes" in an appropriate location in the area that you are going to use for your night hike. A cat’s eyes would be about 6" from the ground, a fox about 12", a deer about 30" and an owl about 6’.
Activity:	Discuss how certain animal’s eyes have a reflective quality. Ask the children if they would know what animal was there just by the size and location of the eyes. Take the children outside or where ever you set up the hike. Let them use their flashlights to try to locate the different animals. Caution them about shining the lights into each other’s faces. (You may choose to have the adults use the flashlights and the children trying to spot the eyes – depends on the age and maturity level of your children.) Once all the animals have been located, you can return to your starting location.
Discussion:	Which animals were they able to figure out? How did they know? If those were real animals, what would their reaction be? (Most animals will run away). Also touch on NOT shining lights directly at animals if it can be avoided. The few seconds that they are stunned in the bright light can be deadly for them – especially on the road or highway.

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