Different animals have different kinds of color vision. Some have very poor color vision and others have very good color vision. In fact some birds and bees have super color vision and see colors that humans don't see. |
This is what humans see. | This is what dogs & cats see. |
What about bulls? Does a red cape make them angry?
Does a red cape make them want to attack it?
This is what humans see.
This is what a bull sees.
Bulls are color-blind. They charge the red cape because it is moving, not because it is red.
Good Color Vision and Animals
Some animals do have good color vision. Monkeys, ground squirrels, birds, insects, and many fish can see a fairly good range of color. In some cases it's not as good as what we humans see - but it's much better than cats and dogs.
Scientists say that good color vision helps animals find food on the land or in the water. For land animals, good color vision helps to tell the difference between ripe red fruit and unripe green fruit. Colors can also make animals more attractive to each other when they mate. Finally, the ability to see colors helps animals identify predators (other animals who may attack them).
Who has super color vision? Bees and butterflies can see colors that we can't see. Their range of color vision extends into the ultraviolet. The leaves of the flowers they pollinate have special ultraviolet patterns which guide the insects deep into the flower. Another example is how a diving bird can see under water without goggles ... and you can't. |
Which animal doesn't need eyes to see? A pit viper sees by feeling the heat in an object. Think about the last time you were really sick. Did you check your forehead to see if you were running a temperature? That "fever-heat" is what gives a pit viper a different kind of vision. This is called "thermal vision." (For more information at Color Matters, click New Frontiers for Color) |
E-books from the author of Color Matters
When are humans color-blind? One out of 12 males are color blind. Reds and greens are the most common colors that are difficult to see.
Humans are color-blind in dim light (such as night time with very little moonlight). |
Who can see in the dark? Owls and other nocturnal (night-time) animals can see at night when it is too dark for us. However, we do not know what animals actually see. We do know that they have very sharp vision. Scientists recently discovered the first animal that can see some colors under very dim lighting. It's the gecko and it can tell blue from grey! It's possible that frogs might also see some colors when it's dark. |
How do we know what colors an animal sees?
Although there's no way to truly know what non-human animals actually perceive, scientists can examine the cones inside the eyes and estimate what colors an animal sees. One of the techniques used to determine the color vision of fish is “microspectrophotometry.” This process analyzes the visual pigments and photo-sensitivity of cells in order to determine how and what colors a fish sees.
For more information, see Look Inside the Eye
Scientists also test for color vision with behavioral tests.
In the picture above, a mouse has decided that the third colored panel looks different from the others and receives a drop of soy milk as a reward. For this set of three lights, only the soy milk dispenser over the red panel releases a drop of soy milk.
For more information about scientific studies see:
Color Vision for Mice
How Dogs are Tested for Color-Blindness
How do we know if a human is color-blind? See What is Color-Blindness at Color Matters.
Are you interested in color experiments ? See Science Projects
You might also be interested in:
See Color & Appetite Matters
Baum DA, Larson A. Adaptation reviewed a phylogenetic methodology for studying character macroevolution. Syst Zool. 1991;40:1–18. doi:10.2307/2992218.
Bennett ATD, Cuthill IC, Norris KJ. Sexual selection and the mismeasure of color. Am Nat. 1994;144:848–60. doi:10.1086/285711.
Borgia G. Comparative behavioral and biochemical studies of bowerbirds and the evolution of bower-building. In: Reaka-Kudia ML, Wilson DE, Wilson EO, editors. Biodiversity. Vol. II. Understanding a protecting our biological resource. Washington DC: Joseph Henry Press; 1997.
Carleton KL, Parry JWL, Bowmaker JK, Hunt DM, Seehausen O. Color vision and speciation in Lake Victoria cichlids of the genus Pundamilia. Mol Ecol. 2005;14:4341–53.
Carroll J, Murphy CJ, Neitz M, Hoeve JN, Neitz J. Photopigment basis for dichromatic color vision in the horse. J Vis. 2001;1:80–7. doi:10.1167/1.2.2.
Changizi MA, Zhang Q, Shimojo S. Bare skin, blood and the evolution of primate colour vision. Biol Lett. 2006;2:217–21. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0440.
Deeb SS, Motulsky AG. Molecular genetics of human color vision. Behav Genet. 1996;26:195–207. doi:10.1007/BF02359380.
Dominy NJ. Color as an indicator of food quality to anthropoid primates: ecological evidence and an evolutionary scenario. In: Ross CF, Kay RF, editors. Anthropoid origins: new visions. New York: Kluwer Academic; 2004. p. 615–35.
Dominy NJ, Garber PA, Bicca-Marques JC, Azevedo-Lopes MA. Do female tamarins use visual cues to detect fruit rewards more successfully than do males? Anim Behav. 2003;66:829–37. doi:10.1006/anbe.2003.2288.
Endler JA. A predator’s view of animal color patterns. Evol Biol. 1978;11:319–64.
Endler JA. On the measurement and classification of colour in studies of animal colour patterns. Biol J Linn Soci. 1990;41:315–52. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1990.tb00839.x.
Endler JA, Westcott DA, Madden JR, Robson T. Animal visual systems and the evolution of color patterns: sensory processing illuminates signal evolution. Evolution Int J Org Evolution. 2005;59:1795–818.
Fernald RD. Casting a genetic light on the evolution of eyes. Science. 2006;313:1914. doi:10.1126/science.1127889.
Fernandez AA, Morris MR. Sexual selection and trichromatic color vision in primates: statistical support for the pre-existing bias hypothesis. Am Nat. 2007;170:10–20. doi:10.1086/518566.
Frith CB, Frith DW. The bowerbirds. New York: Oxford Univ. Press; 2004.
Gilad Y, Wiebe V, Przeworski M, Lancet D, Pääbo S. Loss of olfactory receptor genes coincides with the acquisition of full trichromatic vision in primates. PLoS Biol. 2004;2:120–5. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020005.
Gould SJ, Vrba ES. Exaptation: a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology. 1982;8:4–15.
Greene HW. Diet and arboreality in the emerald monitor, Varanus prasinus, with comments on the study of adaptation. Fieldiana Zool. 1986;31:1–12.
Hill RA, Barton RA. Red enhances human performance in contests. Nature. 2005;435:293. doi:10.1038/435293a.
Hubel DH. Eye, brain, and vision (Scientific American Library No.22). New York: W.H. Freeman; 1988. Also online.
Ioan S, Sandulache M, Avramescu S, Ilie A, Neacsu A, Zatrean L, et al. Red is a distractor for men in competition. Evol Hum Behav. 2007;28:285–93. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.03.001.
Jacobs GH. The distribution and nature of color vision among the mammals. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 1993;68:413–71. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1993.tb00738.x.
Jacobs GH, Williams GA, Cahill H, Nathans J. Emergence of novel color vision in mice engineered to express a human cone photopigment. Science. 2007;315:1723–5. doi:10.1126/science.1138838.
Jameson KA, Highnote SM, Wasserman LM. Richer color experience in observers with multiple photopigment opsin genes. Psychon Bull Rev. 2001;8:244–61.
Leypold BG, Yu CR, Leinders-Zufall T, Kim MM, Zufall F, Axel R. Altered sexual and social behaviors in trp2 mutant mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2002;99:6376–81. doi:10.1073/pnas.082127599.
Liman ER, Innan H. Relaxed selective pressure on an essential component of pheromone transduction in primate evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2003;100:3328–32. doi:10.1073/pnas.0636123100.
Lucas PW, Darvell BW, Lee PKD, Yuen TDB, Choong MF. Colour cues for leaf food selection by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) with a new suggestion for the evolution of trichromatic colour vision. Folia Primatol (Basel). 1998;69:139–52. doi:10.1159/000021576.
Maan ME, Seehausen O, Soderberg L, Johnson L, Ripmeester EAP, Mrosso HDJ, et al. Intraspecific sexual selection on a speciation trait, male coloration, in the Lake Victoria cichlid Pundamilia nyererei. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2004;271:2445–52. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2911.
Marshall NJ. Communication and camouflage with the same “bright” colours in reef fishes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2000;355:1243–8. doi:10.1098/rstb.2000.0676.
Mäthger LM, Hanlon RT. Anatomical basis for camouflaged polarized light communication in squid. Biol Lett. 2006;2:494–6. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0542.
Mäthger LM, Barboas A, Miner S, Hanlon RT. Color blindness and contrast perception in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) determined by a visual sensorimotor assay. Vision Res. 2006;46:1746–53. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2005.09.035.
Meyer A. Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary processes in east African cichlid fishes. Trends Ecol Evol. 1993;8:279–84. doi:10.1016/0169-5347(93)90255-N.
Merbs SL, Nathans J. Photobleaching difference absorption spectra of human cone pigments: quantitative analysis and comparison to other methods. Photochem Photobiol. 1992;56:869–81. doi:10.1111/j.1751-1097.1992.tb09708.x.
Miller PE, Murphy CJ. Vision in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1995;207:1623–34.
Neitz J, Geist T, Jacobs GH. Color vision in the dog. Vis Neurosci. 1989;3:119–25.
Neitz M, Kraft TW, Neitz J. Expression of L-cont pigment gene subtypes in females. Vision Res. 1998;38:3221–5. doi:10.1016/S0042-6989(98)00076-5.
Peichl L, Behrmann G, Krögerm RHH. For whales and seals the ocean is not blue: a visual pigment loss in marine mammals. Eur J Neurosci. 2001;13:1520–8. doi:10.1046/j.0953-816x.2001.01533.x.
Perry GH, Martin RD, Verrelli BC. Signatures of functional constraint at aye-aye opsin genes: the potential of adaptive color vision in a nocturnal primate. Mol Biol Evol. 2007;24(9):1963–70. doi:10.1093/molbev/msm124.
Piantanida T. Genetics of inherited colour vision deficiencies. In: Foster DH, editor. Inherited and acquired colour vision deficiencies, vision and visual dysfunction, volume 7. Boca Raton FL: CRC Press; 1991. p. 98–9.
Regan BC, Juliot C, Simmen B, Viénot F, Charles-Dominique PC, Mollon JD. Fruits, foliage and the evolution of primate color vision. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2001;356:229–83. doi:10.1098/rstb.2000.0773.
Riba-Hernández P, Stoner KE, Osorio D. Effects of polymorphic colour vision for fruit detection in the spider monkey Ateles geoffroyi, and its implications for the maintenance of polymorphic colour vision in platyrrhine monkeys. J Exp Biol. 2004;207:2465–70. doi:10.1242/jeb.01046.
Roth LSF, Kelber A. Nocturnal colour vision in geckos. Biol Lett. 2004;271:S485–7.
Schrope M. Marine biology: lights in the deep. Nature. 2007;450:472–4. doi:10.1038/450472a.
Stowers L, Holy TE, Meister M, Dulac C, Koentges G. Loss of sex discrimination and male–male aggression in mice deficient for TRP2. Science. 2002;295:1493–500. doi:10.1126/science.1069259.
Surridge AK, Osorio D, Mundy NI. Evolution and selection of trichromatic vision in primates. Trends Ecol Evol. 2003;18:198–205. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00012-0.
Terai, Y, Seehausen, O, Sasaki, T, Takahashi, K, Mizoiri, S, Sugawara, T, Sato, T, Watanabe, M, Konijnendijk, N, Mrosso, H. D. J., Tachida, H, Imai, H, Schichida,Y., Okada, N. Divergent selection on opsin drives incipient speciation in Lake Victoria Cichlids.PLOS 2006; 4: (open access)
Waitt C, Little AC, Wolfensohn S, Honess P, Brown AP, Buchanan-Smith HM, et al. Evidence from rhesus macaques suggests that male coloration plays a role in female primate mate choice. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2003;270:S144–6. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2003.0065.
Weiss M. Floral colour changes as cues for pollinators. Nature. 1991;354:227–9. doi:10.1038/354227a0.
Wheelwrigh NT, Janson CH. Colors of fruit display of bird-dispersed plants in two tropical forests. Am Nat. 1985;126:246–51.
Winderickz J, Lindsey DT, Sanocki E, Teller DY, Motulsky AG, Deeb SS. Polymorphism in red photopigment underlies variation in colour matching. Nature 1992;356:431–3. April 2.
Zaccardi G, Kelber A, Sison-Mangus MP, Briscoe AD. Color discrimination in the red range with only one long-wavelength sensitive opsin. J Exp Biol. 2006;209:1944–55. doi:10.1242/jeb.02207.
Zimmer C. Revealed: Secrets of the Camouflage Masters. New York Times Feb 19, 2008. D1, D4.
http://www.mbl.edu/mrc/hanlon/video.html
http://hubel.med.harvard.edu
Island of the Color Blind: Monochromatism. Oliver W. Sacks. Video, Mind Traveler Series; Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities & Sciences: BBC Worldwide America 1998
www.colormatters.com
Page 2
Schematic of the genetic basis of color vision in humans: a Color blindness is a recessive sex-linked trait found on the X chromosome. Sex-linked genes located on X chromosome: plus sign normal vision (dominant), o color blindness (recessive); b Sex-linked genes located on X chromosome: single plus sign LWS allele SER (557 nm), double plus sign LWS allele ALA (552 nm). The difference in the absorption frequency between the SER and ALA alleles allows females with both alleles (heterozygotes) to see more colors than males and females with trichromatic color vision (Deeb and Motulsky 1996)