Talk:Nocturnality

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 September 2018 and 28 November 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Liambeaton.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 05:20, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Moving And List
I moved this page from Nocturnal to Nocturnal animal. Page titles are normally nouns, and the page was only about nocturnal animals. While Nocturnal is a redirect at the moment, it could be used for other (disambig) purposes in the future. I have not updated links that point to Nocturnal. &mdash; David Remahl 14:40, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The list here seems a bit vague. A lot of those animals are diurnal as well. Perhaps a paragraph with examples would be better than a incomplete (we don't need a complete list unless we want half the animal kingdom) list? Sabine's Sunbird 23:43, 19 May 2005 (UTC)
 * The crepuscular article says that many animals that we think are nocturnal actually aren't, in the strictest sense, and so I wonder how many of the animals listed are, in fact, nocturnal, and not just crepuscular... 24.70.68.199 22:33, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

I've removed the list of examples, as it is misleading and unverified.--YGagarin 16:56, 7 June 2006 (UTC)


 * ive restored examples with a qualifying intro. as some of us have time we can sift through and determine whether a few of these really should be deleted. this seems like an extreme over-reaction to delete so much constructive work of others on the suspicion that one or two of these animals may have a technically more apt term "crepuscular".  regards Covalent 22:54, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * The list is so awful that mass deletion is probably best. It makes no distinction between species and families (owl, Wipporwill, nightjar, etc etc) It is either flat out wrong (African Wild Dogs, herons) so vague as to be worthless (ike families that have some nocturnal species, like deer, rats, nightkjars); includes many species that are active both in the day and night (koala, beaver, leopard, rhino, weasel, rat) or includes species that are usually active during the day but attend breeding colonies or sites nocturnally (Green Turtles), or the afformentioned cresepular species (red foxes). Of the species on the list that are actually honest to god nocturnal, I think the following are safe. Aye-aye, any species of bandicoot, bushbaby, Night monkey, fennec, flying squirrel, kiwi, loris, sugar glider, and probably most tree frogs. But quite frankly a better article with these examples used to illustrate points is much better than a long, boring and inevidably incomplete list. Sabine's Sunbird talk 04:37, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Definition of night
It would be nice to know exactly how one defines day and night or darkness and light. There are currently some diurnal birds outside my window singing 'at the dead of night', in pitch darkness. During a summer's night, however, the sky would just be beginning to lighten and I wouldn't be surprised to hear the dawn chorus. Do nocturnal/diurnal timings vary with the seasons or are they based on a 24-hour clock? 163.1.143.122 04:07, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Move
Nocturnality anyone? The move from an adjective to noun is a good idea, but I prefer this one to 'nocturnal animal'. Richard001 04:09, 6 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Moved it - please discuss here if anyone disagrees. Richard001 08:31, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Image
Removed image, as it isn't working.

--Hordaland (talk) 02:44, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

What about DSPS?
At the top of the article page it indirectly states that humanity is ONLY diurnal, then later on, gives a term for those who are nocturnal as well. I suggest a rewrite to "most/many humans", and a link to the DSPS or DSPD (Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome; Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder) Wiki page. 2008-10-16 T01:58 Z-7 76.170.112.93 (talk) 08:58, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The Nocturnal Eye
The article mentions that a nocturnal animal hunts at night, and has the advantage over other animals that have poor vision in the dark. It fails to mention WHY these nocturnal animals have different eyes than the others. What makes them different? How are their eyes able to function so well in the dark while other animals eyes cannot? I think it would be worthwhile for a section to be added perhaps comparing and contrasting the nocturnal eye vs the diurnal eye so that this unique biological adaptation could be explained in an anatomical sense. Davis.3548 (talk) 01:52, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Have there always been nocturnal animals?
It would be interesting to include a section addressing how these nocturnal animals came to be, perhaps with a few specific examples. Take a tiger for instance, has is always been active at night, or have certain pressures and evolutionary forces shaped its lifestyle to become that way? Also, how does the eye of a present day tiger compare to one 100 or so years ago? Bottom line is that it might be worth a look at how these animals arose, and what drove them to be nocturnal rather than diurnal (besides the predation explanation)Davis.3548 (talk) 02:07, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Effects of Predation
The article mentions that one of the reasons a lion may hunt at night is because its prey, like zebras, have poor night vision. I am curious to see if these zebras are beginning to become better equipped to see at night, in order to avoid this predation by the lion. Natural selection would favor those zebras able to allude the lions, perhaps because they have better eyesight, although other reasons may be responsible as well. This may also be able to tell us more about the evolution of nocturnality.Davis.3548 (talk) 02:23, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Contradiction
Crepuscular species, such as rabbits, skunks, cats, tigers, and hyenas, are often erroneously referred to as nocturnal. ... The most known creatures to be nocturnal include cats, rodents, and owls, which all have heightened senses (including their sense of sight).

cats are erroneously referred to as nocturnal, but are known to be nocturnal? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.180.79.10 (talk) 14:10, 16 May 2018 (UTC)

Human Disturbance Section and Citations Added
Adding to this section as part of a student project, presenting this week. Feel free to check my work and sources, as I am new to this. Liambeaton (talk) 07:02, 26 November 2018 (UTC)liambeatonLiambeaton (talk) 07:02, 26 November 2018 (UTC)