Talk:Nictitating membrane

Creationista

hmm, wonder what the creationista think about this little telltale residue? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.170.68.234 (talk) 08:14, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Uh, it means God put it there. Simple! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.65.105.174 (talk) 21:40, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

More modern reference than 1871

Hmmm -- I wonder if we can get a more modern reference for "Those of Africans and Australian Aborigines have been said to be slightly larger than other peoples" than 1871. I mean, even though Charles Darwin is a pretty highly regarded source, given the era this seems like it might be questionable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.197.11.28 (talk) 04:11, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Vestigial in humans

The status of an organ as vestigial is best stated provisionally (as it is for plica semilunaris in the eyelid article). The human appendix, for example, long put forward as the classic example of vestigiality is now the subject of some debate as to whether it truly is so. Also, in light of the less than current reference for the relative size of African and Australian plica semilunaris, thought it best to qualify. --Floorsheim (talk) 19:00, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Being vestigal doesn't necessarily mean it has no use. See Human vestigiality . Wardog (talk) 09:41, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Also, the plica semilunaris is not vestigial in everyone. I know this because I have a functioning, but involuntary, nictitating membrane. Mine is white and opaque. I was told that this trait is common in Northern China and Mongolia, but I have never been able to confirm this. Does anybody know of a reference? I am white and from european ancestry, not that it matters. HairyWombat (talk) 02:50, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Direction of closing?

I came to this page after looking at my cat's membrane as he slept. The question I wanted answered was "does the membrane slide in-to-out or out-to-in?" Unfortunately this wasn't mentioned in the article.

Perhaps different animals move their membranes in opposite directions but can we please have something added to help with my query?  :)

--SmartShark (talk) 19:43, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

The Third Blinking Eyelid

An additional and vital function of the nictitating membrane in avian physiology has been proposed by Jim Sharp, who is looking for help in validating his theory. An HD video demonstrating the basic thinking behind his hypothesis can be downloaded from vimeo.com and a link to this is given at www.nictitatingmembranes.wordpress.com.Iggwigg (talk) 21:35, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

File:Bird blink-edit.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Bird blink-edit.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on November 16, 2012. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2012-11-16. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! —howcheng {chat} 21:41, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

Picture of the day

The nictitating membrane of a Masked Lapwing as it closes. The membrane is a transparent or translucent third eyelid present in some animals that can be drawn across the eye for protection and to moisten it while maintaining visibility. Some reptiles, birds, sharks, and mammals have full nictitating membranes. Most mammals, however, have a small, vestigial portion of it remaining in the corner of the eye.Photos: 99of9

Nictitating Membranes in Fiction

Is there enough material (or interest) for a brief section on “Nictitating Membranes in Fiction”? That seems the, uhm, logical place to offer links to Vulcan and Mri physiology, both of which already link here. 76.100.23.153 (talk) 03:20, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Nope. HairyWombat 04:12, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

primate

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ar.1091620106

all primate have nictitaing membrane. just human and pan troglodyte have not. could you correct it in the article please. Vatadoshu^french 07:59, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Is it the same as Plica semilunaris?

The article Plica semilunaris of conjunctiva seems to refer to the same thing. I wish to translate the article to Hebrew, can someone clarify? Thank you, La Nave Partirà (talk) 13:38, 15 May 2022 (UTC)