For anyone who's seen that weird pink thing flashing across their Water Dragon's (or any other herp's) eye, I wanted to share this so we can all be enlightened

From wikipedia.org ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating_membrane )

Many species of land animals have a nictitating membrane, which can move across the eyeball to give the sensitive eye structures additional protection in particular circumstances. It is often called a third eyelid or haw and may be referred to as the plica semilunaris in more advanced applications.


Nictitating membranes are found in crocodiles, lizards, birds, frogs, most species of sharks, and some species of mammals. In humans, the nictitating membrane is the apparently useless pink lump in the inner corner of the eyes; it is permanently folded into that corner and no longer functions, apparently rendered redundant by evolution some time in the past. Unlike human eyelids, the nictitating membrane moves horizontally across the eyeball. It is normally translucent. In some diving animals, for example beavers and manatees, it moves across the eye to protect it while under water, and in these species it is transparent; in other diving animals including sea lions, it is activated on land, to remove sand and other debris. This is its function in most animals. In birds of prey, it also serves to protect the parents' eyes from their chicks while they are feeding them. In polar bears it protects the eyes from snow blindness. In sharks it protects the eye while the shark strikes at its prey.

In cats and dogs, the nictitating membrane is not usually visible, and its appearance is a sign of poor condition or ill health.

In many species, any stimulus to the eyeball (such as a puff of air) will result in reflex nictitating membrane response. This reflex is widely used as the basis for experiments on classical conditioning in rabbits.

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....the more you know

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hmmm that is interesting. thanks for sharing the info.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

hey I knew that, but I didn't know what it was called. I didn't know lizards have them too. I did know that cats, rabbits, birds, and some other animals have it, but I didn't know that snakes and lizards did, that is amazing...plus I never realized that people use to also..I did secretly wonder about the gross pink lump was>lol, now I know thanks!

No problem I was quite fascinated to discover this myself. ^^

(On a random note, how do I set my signature? I do believe I can, as I'm a "member" now, but can't find the field for it :P )

i think there's a certain number of posts you have to reach before setting a signature is an option. but i'm not too sure of this.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

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aaah. yeah, it's a few posts after "member", uh huh. I thought you'd get it as soon as you hit member, and that it was just a field I couldn't findXD Thanks everyone^^

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~My Petses, Preciouss...~
0.1.0 (Dementedly Happy) Standard Poodle, Atashi
1.1.0 Housecats, Bilbo Aragorn Tubs and Demeter
0.0.1 ANCIENT Comet Goldfish, Platesy (I was 4 when I named her :P )
1.0.0 Adolescent Chinese Water Dragon, Heebeejeebee
0.0.2 Ryuken Goldfish, Forksy and Spoony (named to go with Platesy<3 )
0.0.2 Golden Dojo Loaches, Jack and Anamaria

welcome.

__________________

yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear