Why the night is black?

If black is easy to see at night why is my black lab so hard to find outside at night?

• I've been doing research on camouflage and I often hear black stands out at night but how do anmials that are black disappear so well?

• Answer:

  Based on my limited knowledge, I would say it is because of lighting. If you have a porch light it would be a lot easier to see because the light is spread amongst a larger area making a black object stand out within an environment that is a darker version of the actual color. The distance of the dog from you also adds a variable, obviously the closer the dog gets, the easier it is to see and the farther it is, the harder it is to see because of light getting dispersed over a small distance and because of other objects blocking your view. In short, humans have horrible night vision and even with moonlight or a flashlight a black dog doesn't look any different from the black environment during the night and to boot, our eyes are attracted to movement so if the dog is going to the bathroom or just standing still it will be harder to see.