Did you ever wonder why you see the colors you do or if animals see the same colors that you see? Well, that was brought up early this morning in our household. Lisa adamantly stating that dogs and cats see B&W, while I, on the other hand, argued that they probably could see color and no one has ever been a dog or cat to prove me wrong. Anyway, I was out to disspell the myth (that even I had heard as a youth) that animals are colorblind - which, btw, is an incorrect term (it's actually color deficiency). Light enters our eyes and bounces off cells known as photoreceptors. Theyare given that name because of the photons that light is made out of. This is what allows us to see.
There are lots of different photons and these all make the colors we see (like when we see a rainbow) based on their wavelength. The different photons are said to have different wavelengths. Sunlight contains all the different wavelengths of photons. The visible wavelength colors can be seen when you look at a rainbow. Raindrops acting as natural prisms produce the colors.
OK, that being said...photoreceptors are made up of rods and cones - i know you remember this from school - and they're called that by their shapes, btw, and are at the back of your eye. Rods are how black and white stands out and cones are how color stands out. But there are 3 types of cones, one for each color (in mammals - more at the end of my post). The colors? RGB, Red, Green and Blue - just like computer monitors or TVs. ;)
Now how does this fit in with our conversation this morning? Great question. By looking at animals eyes, you can determine what colors they can see by how many kinds of cones they have. The big thing I know you're wondering...well, tell us...what about cats and dogs? Cats have 2 kinds of cones and so do dogs, they have 2 also. So both cats and dogs can see color, maybe not as great as we can (because people have 3), but they still can nonetheless.
And here's a little bit of useless...ahem..i mean useful info that I found out. As a rule of thumb, you can guess how well an animal sees colors (as a species) by observing what type of prey they go after with the prey's markings/colors. The brighter the potential food, the better they can see color. heheh
Oh, and if you think we see pretty well - something else I found out...birds have 5 to 7 cones (wow!) and spiders and insects can usually see ultraviolet light based ontheir cones.
I know, a lot of info, but hey, if I don't share it, who will?
9 comments:
And how would you spend your time it you weren't always trying to prove me wrong ;)
Interesting! On a related note, did you know why plants reflect the colors they do? It's all based on the pigments in their cells. Most of us are familiar with chlorophyll which is responsible for green, of course. Then there are the carotenoids, which reflect yellow, orange, and red. The anthocyanin bring certain reds and blues to light. There are others, but these are the ones I could recall from memory.
Oh Whatever!
nice, a very nice...
what would happen if Johnny T and Tim put all of there knowledge and super powers together... they might create some sort of super human. and i just had this thought. tim, lisa, john, and beth should be on the next amazing race family edition... yall would kick butt. ill babysit the kids while you're gone... you can pay me by putting me through the rest of my school when you win. loljk : )
btw.... your team would get the most airtime.... john and tim would fight over who could inform the masses with their useless information or who could do the coolest most dangerous thing better. lisa and beth would win the camera with their sheer beauty and quick wit. :)
So true :)
so what i don't get is how do we see yellow when we have no yellow receptors, you can't blend 2 colors to make yellow since it is a primary...
Maybe this link will help you tonya....
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/color_and_vision.shtml
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