ANIMALS & THEIR VISION

I have heard that animals dislike some colors and they even behave erratic against certain colors. Say for example elephants dislike white color and bulls dislike the red color. Are they true? Do they really feel as we feel the spectrum or the shades of color?

Some animals are color blind... some can see certain colors - many if not most animals’ see in color to some extent.

Humans, apes, most old world monkeys, ground squirrels, and many species of fish, birds, and insects have well-developed color vision.

Nocturnal animals - such as foxes, owls, skunks, and raccoons - whose vision is specialized for dim light seldom have good color vision.

Horse can see blues and greens, 

Deer can see yellows and greens,

Reds appear as differing shades of gray to a Cat,

Turtles can see in the red-orange-yellow part of the spectrum,

Ferrets see in shades or tones of gray and can see some red.

Birds are not color blind because we can teach a parrot to recognize colors.

Honeybees and butterflies have three pigment visual receptors with true color vision within their visual spectrum - Not only can these animals see in color but they can detect a mix of colors as well as pure colors.

Dogs are not fully color blind.

                                                                   THIS IS HOW WE SEE 

THIS IS HOW A DOG SEES!

THIS IS HOW WE SEE

THIS IS HOW A BULL SEES!

( Please note, the bull is irritated by the movement & not by the color of the cloth )

SOME INTERESTING FACTS OF HUMAN & ANIMAL’S VISION:

*  Humans have trichromatic color vision. We have three types of cells in our eyes. These absorb blue, green, and red light. Since most mammals have only two types of cells, they can only see a fraction of the colors that humans see. Humans are color-blind in dim light and even other wise one in four human males has a form of colorblindness, with differing levels of severity, or acuteness. 

*  Bees and butterflies can see colors that we can't see.

*  Diving bird can see under water without goggles ... and we can't.

*  A pit viper sees by feeling the heat in an object, doesn't need eyes to see.

*  Some animals that can see some colors under very dim lighting like gecko & frogs.

*  Pure white, short haired cats with two blue eyes are often deaf (not blind!) 

*  Pure white, Persian long haired cats, are color blind.

(The honeybee can distinguish colors better than Man except red.)

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 & protect them from predators.