• Question: What do animals see, why do they see in black and white?

    Asked by geenasaurusrex to Adam, Faye, Martin, Samantha on 23 May 2012. This question was also asked by jessicarrrx.
    • Photo: Adam Bibbey

      Adam Bibbey answered on 23 May 2012:

      Hi geenasaurusrex,

      It actually depends on the species of animal; some animals are able to see in colour and have better visual systems than humans whilst others can’t actually see in colour.

      Cells in the eyes called cones are what help us see in colour, whilst cells called rods help us to see in reduced light levels. So depending on how many of each an animal has, this will determine what they can see.

      Hope this helps, please feel free to ask any more questions.

    • Photo: Faye Didymus

      Faye Didymus answered on 26 May 2012:

      Hi geenasaurusrex! That’s a really interesting question 🙂 Looking at how the animal live can give us some clues about what animals can see. Animals that eat fruit need to be able to tell which fruits are ripe and which are not, so monkeys, apes, and fruit-eating birds see in color. Insects that pollinate plants need to see colors to distinguish the right kinds of flowers for them, so bees and some other insects see some colors (and some can also see ultraviolet colors that humans can’t see). Animals that use the color of their own bodies as social signals often see in color, but not always. So lizards that flash colorful dewlaps in their territorial and mating displays usually see some color, as do most birds!

Comments

  • Photo: geenasaurusrex

    geenasaurusrex commented on :

    So do dogs see in black and white?

    • Photo: charl911

      charl911 commented on :

      yeah they r colour blind 🙂

    • Photo: Pete

      Pete commented on :

      Dogs see the world in blues and yellows because they don’t have red/green colour cells in their eyes! Some vision scientists think that animals like monkeys other fruit-eating mammals developed a cell that can distinguish between red and green colours so that they could easily find red fruit (which might mean that they are ripe) in trees. If you have lots of different types of colour cells in your eyes, it means that your vision gets worse (think of it like a really pixellated screen) and it costs more energy to have those cells in the first place. Therefore, if you don’t really need those types of cells, your won’t develop them when they are evolving. Dogs don’t eat fruit, and can find their food just fine with just blue/yellow vision, so never developed red/green vision 🙂

  • Photo: Faye

    Faye commented on :

    Apparently dogs can see red, green, and yellow as well!