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Nocturnal animals, which are only active from dusk until dawn, usually have spe- cially adapted senses. For example, owls have extra keen vision for hunting in the dark and a rabbit’s extra large ears help it avoid becoming a midnight snack.
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The night is not truly black. A complete lack of light is interpreted by the brain as eigengrau, a German word meaning intrinsic gray. Contrast is important to the human eye, which is why this color appears lighter than a black-colored object under normal lighting conditions.
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The night got a lot brighter after Homo erectus, the earliest human species known to have controlled fire, first lit up the dark between 125,000 and 400,000 years ago.
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Today the phrase fly-by-night refers to a shady operation or fraudulent business but it was originally an ac- cusation of witchcraft, referencing flying on a broomstick at night.
- To achieve optimal night vision, eat lots of dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes and carrots, which are all high in vitamin A—a deficiency can lead to night blindness. Expect to spend 20 to 30 minutes in the dark to allow your eyes to fully adjust.
- In the northern hemisphere, the longest night of the year is around December 21 and the shortest night of the year around June 21. The difference in duration is due to a 23.5-degree wobble in the Earth’s axis as it rotates around the sun.
- Nights on the planet Venus are the lon- gest of any planet’s in the solar system; there it takes 224 Earth days to com- plete one day-night cycle. Night falls ev- ery 9 hours and 56 minutes on Jupiter.
- “Wimoweh, wimoweh,” is the beginning of the pop hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” made famous by The Lion King movie. Wimoweh is the phonetic spelling of a Zulu word that means lion.
This article first appeared in the Early Summer 2014 issue of Canoeroots Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Canoeroots’ print and digital editions here.
