Animal Color Blindness - The Scientific Answer

[marineimaging]

How does a researcher know that any particular animal is colorblind?
Deer
Hogs
Coyotes
Wolves
Dogs
Cats
Birds of Prey
Songbirds
etc.,.

 

[Ratdog68]

I KNOW deer don't see hunter orange. I hear blue stands out to them though.

 

[RattlesnakeDan]

They give them those blotter tests and see what they have to say. It's different with each animal according to the "cones" I believe. Size/shape etc.. of the cones but I would like to put an antelope eyeball in front of my scope and see what he sees.

 

[Brian Shaffer]

They look at rods and cones and also actually give tests to animals based on food rewards (usually either/or sorts of choice tests). For example...
http://www.ugadeerresearch.org/?page_id=584
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...s-use-color-vision-after-all-13168563/?no-ist (this one has a chart showing what the colors likely appear to be to dogs)
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/animalwelfare/1_download.pdf

We probably all know somebody that is color blind, but they really aren't colorblind, but are red-green color blind. They are dichromats like many "color blind" animals such as deer. Here is some irony for you. People who are color blind like deer may actually see camo much better than people who see full spectrum color.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...7bgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NrUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5262,243114
http://www.eyehealth.com/color-blindness.html
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3037/is-colorblindness-an-evolutionary-advantage

Like animals, the soldiers may be less sensitive to color, but more sensitive to hue.

 

[RattlesnakeDan]

I have been colorblind all my life. Red/Green issues. Blood trailing is a big issue almost impossible to see red blood on vegetation but I learned to see differently, hues and movement in the field instead of color differences sometimes. Purple/blue look the same. Florescent green looks yellow to me. Green/browns look similar alot. The truth about animals is that they are still guessing at most of their "science". Much is misunderstood because some sight is from the eye and some from the brain.

 

[rgilbert]

They look at rods and cones and also actually give tests to animals based on food rewards (usually either/or sorts of choice tests). For example...
http://www.ugadeerresearch.org/?page_id=584
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...s-use-color-vision-after-all-13168563/?no-ist (this one has a chart showing what the colors likely appear to be to dogs)
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/animalwelfare/1_download.pdf

We probably all know somebody that is color blind, but they really aren't colorblind, but are red-green color blind. They are dichromats like many "color blind" animals such as deer. Here is some irony for you. People who are color blind like deer may actually see camo much better than people who see full spectrum color.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...7bgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NrUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5262,243114
http://www.eyehealth.com/color-blindness.html
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3037/is-colorblindness-an-evolutionary-advantage

Like animals, the soldiers may be less sensitive to color, but more sensitive to hue.

You have way to much time on your hands. I suggest you take up hog hunting with thermal at night. LOL

 

[lonepunman]

To my knowledge, the most practical / hunting oriented researched has been performed by Dr. Charles Shawley, an experienced coyote hunter in the Lewiston / Clarkston Valley of Washington / Idaho.

Bio:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesrshawley

He, too, wondered about the ability of coyotes to see movement and colors, so he did the only logical thing: He shot some song dawgs, yanked out their eyeballs and cut them open.

(It helped that he holds degrees in Chemistry, Physics and has a PhD in Materials Science, specializing in optics).

His research was focused on determining the best camouflage pattern for coyote hunting. He does cite a particular brand of camo is being most effective when hunting coyote.

His results were published several years ago, and he appeared on several hunting podcasts discussing his findings. He ran afoul of the predator hunting establishment when his electronic caller comparisons did not favor the most popular caller who advertised predominately in the preeminent predator hunting magazine.

Here are the links to his three-part series revealing his findings; click for the related link on the front page shown.

http://www.predatorxtreme-digital.com/200810#&pageSet=40&page=1&contentItem=undefined

http://www.predatorxtreme-digital.com/200812/Default/31/1#&pageSet=31&page=0&contentItem=undefined

http://www.predatorxtreme-digital.com/200902#&pageSet=42&page=0&contentItem=undefined

 

[FrankT]

That is a lot of excellent info...so what caller did he say was best?

 

[Brian Shaffer]

Amongst fans of these vision studies, there are folks that lean toward Shawley's sort of anatomical work (done by a lot of researchers as well) and then those who favor the behavioral sort of testing like some of what I mentioned above. Both provide some interesting insights. You really can't have one without the other to understand what is going on and why.

 

[lonepunman]

That is a lot of excellent info...so what caller did he say was best?

He answers that in #4:

http://huntandshoot.com.au/articles...rts-2-dr-charles-shawley-science-of-the-hunt/

http://www.predatorxtreme-digital.com/200910/Default/16/0#&pageSet=16&page=0&contentItem=undefined

 

[FrankT]

Thanks

 

[theblakester]

They just send the animals to Dr. Dolittle

Sorry I had nothing better to contribute.. wanted to tag for future reference

 

[marineimaging]

Is this not sad? As soon as I saw the answer(s) I knew that I had simply forgotten. This is high school level and I just plumb forgot. Of course..., we send them to Dr. Dolittle for an eye exam. It is sort of like the fact that we know that fish can't see that detail either. So, why all the colors of fishing baits? To catch the fishermen, of course. LOL