# Why do cats have vertical pupils?

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED-Ed
- Speaker: Emma Bryce
- Year: 2022
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Biology, Teaching and learning
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_bryce_why_do_cats_have_vertical_pupils)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

Peering into the eyes of different animals, you'll see some extraordinarily shaped pupils. House cats, for one, are twilight hunters with vertically elongated pupils. Many grazing animals, like goats, have rectangular pupils. Other animals have crescent- or heart-shaped pupils. So, what's going on? Why are there so many different pupil shapes? Emma Bryce digs into the science of animal vision. \[Directed by Bálint Gelley, CUB Animation Ltd, narrated by Alexandra Panzer, music by József Iszlai\].

## Lectures

1. [Why do cats have vertical pupils?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/emma_bryce_why_do_cats_have_vertical_pupils/07257d25a743), 5 min (TED's player)