Why are rabbit eyes red?

The reason why rabbits' eyes appear red is due to the special structure inside their eyeballs.

In the eyes of most animals, the structure of the cornea, iris, and pupil controls the light entering the eye and reflects it out. These structures typically absorb some of the light and pass the rest onto the retina, resulting in the colors we typically see in our eyes, such as blue, brown, green, etc.

However, the eyes of red-eyed rabbits have a special structure. Their corneas and irises are unpigmented, and their pupils don't have enough pigment to absorb the light entering their eyes. So when light enters a red-eyed rabbit's eye, it is reflected back through the blood circulation and vascular network, making the eye appear red.

This phenomenon is also called the "red-eye effect" and often occurs in photography. When a camera's flash or bright light shines into a red-eyed rabbit's eyes, the reflected light passes through the retina and travels through blood vessels, causing the eyes to appear red.

Therefore, the reason why red-eyed rabbits have red eyes is due to the special properties of their eye structures.

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