Creatures of the Night

When the Sun Goes Down

When you climb into bed at night and the world grows dark and quiet, you might think that everything is asleep. But you would be wrong! As the sun sets, a whole new world wakes up. All around us, in gardens, forests and deserts, animals are stirring, ready to hunt, feed and explore in the dark.

Animals that are awake at night and rest during the day are called nocturnal animals. The opposite — animals like us, who are awake in the day — are called diurnal. Some animals, called crepuscular, are busiest at dawn and dusk, when the light is dim.

In this book we will explore the world after dark and meet the amazing creatures of the night. We will find out how they see, hear and hunt without the sun, and why so many animals choose to live their lives in darkness. So switch off the light, and let's step into the night.

Why Live in the Dark?

Why would an animal choose to sleep all day and come out only at night? It turns out the dark has many advantages.

In hot places like deserts, the daytime sun is fierce. By resting in a cool burrow during the day and coming out at night, an animal stays cool and saves precious water. Many desert animals are nocturnal for this reason.

The dark is also a good place to hide. Hunters that chase prey by sight, like eagles and lions, are mostly active during the day. By moving about at night, smaller animals can stay safely out of sight. And some hunters do the same in reverse — they hunt at night because that is when their prey comes out.

So the night is full of life, with some animals searching for food and others trying not to become food.

Eyes That Work in the Dark

To live in the dark, a nocturnal animal needs special senses, and one of the most important is sight.

Many night animals have very large eyes. Big eyes can gather more of the small amount of light that the moon and stars give off. Think of an owl or a bush baby — their huge round eyes help them see in the gloom.

Some animals, like cats and foxes, have a clever mirror inside their eyes called the tapetum. This shiny layer bounces light back through the eye, giving the animal a second chance to use it. It is also the reason a cat's eyes seem to glow when a light shines on them at night.

Even with these tricks, most night animals cannot see in total darkness. So they do not rely on sight alone. They use their ears and noses too.

Listening in the Night

When you cannot see well, good hearing becomes very important. Many night animals have amazing ears.

The owl has some of the sharpest hearing of any animal. Its ears are hidden under its feathers, and one ear is slightly higher than the other. This helps the owl work out exactly where a sound is coming from — even the tiny rustle of a mouse in the grass below.

The fennec fox of the desert has enormous ears. They help it hear the smallest movements of insects and other creatures hiding in the sand, and they also help the fox stay cool in the heat.

Hearing is so useful at night that some animals use it almost like a kind of sight, as we will see next with the bats.

Bats and Their Secret Sound

Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly, and almost all of them come out at night. But how does a bat fly through the dark and catch tiny insects without crashing? The answer is one of nature's cleverest tricks: echolocation.

As it flies, a bat makes lots of high squeaks — so high that we usually cannot hear them. The sounds travel out, hit objects like trees or insects, and bounce back as echoes. The bat listens to these echoes and works out exactly where everything is. In this way, a bat can "see" with sound, even in pitch darkness.

Using echolocation, a flying bat can catch hundreds of insects in a single night. Some bats eat fruit instead, and a few drink nectar from flowers, helping the plants in the same way that bees do during the day.

The Silent Hunter

Few creatures of the night are as well built for hunting as the owl. Everything about an owl helps it catch prey in the dark.

We have already met the owl's big eyes and sharp hearing. But the owl has one more secret: it flies in almost complete silence. Its feathers are soft and have a fringed edge that hushes the sound of the air rushing over its wings. While other birds make a flapping noise, the owl swoops down without a whisper, so its prey never hears it coming.

When the owl catches a small animal, it often swallows it whole. Later, it coughs up the parts it cannot digest, like fur and bones, in a neat little bundle called a pellet. Scientists love to pull these pellets apart, because they show exactly what the owl has been eating.

More Creatures of the Night

Many other animals come alive after dark. Let's meet a few.

The fox trots quietly through fields and even city streets at night, using its keen nose and ears to find food. The hedgehog snuffles through gardens looking for worms and beetles, rolling into a prickly ball if danger comes near. The badger leaves its underground home, called a sett, to dig for food in the dark.

In hot places, scorpions creep out to hunt, and amazingly, their bodies glow a soft blue-green under certain light. Glow-worms and fireflies make their own light to send signals to each other in the dark. And the moth flutters from flower to flower, doing at night the job that butterflies do by day.

A Busy, Important Night

It is easy to think that nothing important happens while we sleep, but the night is a busy and useful time in nature.

Nocturnal animals do many vital jobs. Bats and moths pollinate flowers and keep insect numbers down. Owls and foxes help control the number of mice and rats. Many night animals help spread seeds and keep the natural world in balance.

We can help these creatures by keeping some areas dark and wild, because too many bright lights at night can confuse them. Leaving a quiet, leafy corner in a garden gives hedgehogs and other night visitors a safe place to feed.

What We Learned

What an adventure into the dark! Let's remember what we found.

Animals that are awake at night are called nocturnal, and they live this way to stay cool, to hide from daytime hunters, or to catch prey that only comes out after dark. To survive without sunlight, night animals have special senses: big eyes that gather light, sharp ears that pinpoint sounds, and clever tricks like the bat's echolocation. We met silent owls, flying bats, sniffing foxes, prickly hedgehogs and glowing scorpions, and learned that the night is a busy, important time in nature.

So the next time you are tucked up in bed, remember — outside in the dark, the creatures of the night are wide awake and hard at work.

Want to meet more amazing animals? Explore the world's habitats in Amazing Animals of the World, or discover tiny living things in The World of Insects.