Name: Birds and other animals may see colours that we cannot even imagine
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Birds and other animals may see colours that we cannot even imagine

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×ByBirds, reptiles, amphibians and fish may see kinds of colours we can’t even imagine, say researchers whose experiments with wild hummingbirds show they perceive five so-called non-spectral colours.Almost all of the correspond to a single wavelength. Such colours are called spectral colours because they are part of the visible spectrum, ranging from red and yellow to blue and violet.The exception is , which can be evoked only by a combination of red and blue light, not by any single wavelength. For this reason, it is known as a non-spectral colour. “For us, purple is kind of special,” says Mary Caswell Stoddard at Princeton University.AdvertisementOur eyes have&nbsp;three kinds of cells, called , that detect red, green and blue light. We see purple when only the red and blue cones, but not the green cones, in our eyes are stimulated.Birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish&nbsp; in their eyes. Stoddard thinks this means they might see five non-spectral colours. They may see “ultraviolet plus yellow”, for instance, when the ultraviolet, green and red cones, but not the blue cone, are stimulated.To test this idea, Stoddard’s team recorded how often&nbsp;&nbsp;visited feeders containing either plain or sugar water. The researchers assumed that the birds always prefer sugar water, but they moved the feeders around so that the only way the birds could distinguish between them was by looking at the colours emitted by a special light next to each feeder.The results show that hummingbirds can perceive five non-spectral colours: purple, ultraviolet plus green, ultraviolet plus red, ultraviolet plus yellow and ultraviolet plus purple. For instance, the birds had no trouble distinguishing ultraviolet plus green from either pure ultraviolet or pure green.Most vertebrates can probably perceive these non-spectral colours, because most have four cones, but not mammals. The&nbsp;&nbsp;ancestors of mammals&nbsp;. Our&nbsp;, but&nbsp; that of many animals.“The more philosophical question of what these colours look like to birds is impossible for us to answer,” says Stoddard. “We have no idea what these colours really look like to birds.”Journal reference: PNAS,Correction:We have clarified the section on how non-spectral colours can be stimulated in birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.More on these topics:AdvertisementTrendingLatestVideoFree

×ByBirds, reptiles, amphibians and fish may see kinds of colours we can’t even imagine, say researchers whose experiments with wild hummingbirds show they perceive five so-called non-spectral colours.Almost all of the correspond to a single wavelength. Such colours are called spectral colours because they are part of the visible spectrum, ranging from red and yellow to blue and violet.The exception is , which can be evoked only by a combination of red and blue light, not by any single wavelength. For this reason, it is known as a non-spectral colour. “For us, purple is kind of special,”...

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Birds and other animals may see colours that we cannot even imagine

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