By Rob Waugh
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It will come as no surprise that an animal's view of the world is different to our own, but what isn't so clear is exactly what they see.
A new exhibition at the Royal Society is shows images that illustrate what our pets and other animals see when they look at each other and when they look at us.
The fascinating insight shows the latest research into the colour vision of animals, many of which can see ultraviolet, or colours that we can't see, making their world view completely different to ours.
Birds, for example, can see ultraviolet so a peacock looking at a potential mate would not see the beautiful rainbow of greens and blues that we behold, but a plainer yet more brightly coloured display of plumage.
Birds have four types of cone cells in their eyes called photoreceptors (humans have three), and can see many more colours than we can. They can also see ultraviolet, which means that the 'eye' markings in a peacock's tail features looks sharper
Purple haze: Using the ultraviolet recepters in its eyes the peacock would see a mating feather display more like this
When you throw a ball for a dog, the dog doesn't actually see the bright colours of the ball - instead, the animals are virtually colour-blind, as they rely on their heightened sense of smell for most navigation
Chysina beetles or 'jewelled scarabs' reflect light that humans can't see - circular polarised light. It's not known what this is used for, but scientists suspect it is used for communications
Understanding how animals see the world could be key to understanding their behaviour.
Animal colouration provides some of the most striking examples of evolution by natural and sexual selection.
But animal colours did not evolve for our benefit; the impressive array of animal colours that we see (and can’t see) in the natural world allows animals to communicate with each other, to attract mates and to avoid predators.
It's a language humans are only beginning to understand.
Dr Tom Pike, Senior Lecturer from Lincoln University’s School of Life Sciences, said: ‘We rely overwhelmingly on colour vision in our everyday lives, and tend to assume that what we see represents the limits of the visual world.
'However, colour vision in animals, and their resultant perception of the visual world, often differs considerably from our own.
The eyes of cuttlefish evolved separately from humans and are completely different from ours - they can't see colours, but can discern the polarisation of light, which lets them pick out contrasts better
A peacock butterfly: The colourful spots are designed to fend off predators - what the butterflies themselves see is quite different
To humans, a squirrel looks like a bright orange streak among foliage - but to squirrels, their own species look much more drab. The creatures evolved their orange colouring to blend in among falling leaves
A dog's owner's legs - as seen by a human
Human legs - as seen by a dog. To dogs, smell is much more important
'Many, for example, can see ultraviolet light, some can see polarised light, and a good number can see many more colours than we can,' says Pike.
'Having said that, certain animals see far fewer colours than us â€" something that anyone who is colour blind can sympathise with.'
‘Because animal colours evolved for the benefit of animal - and not human - eyes, understanding the visual world from an animal’s point of view can explain why some animals are bright while others are dull. Some are highly patterned and others plain. This allows us not only to shed exciting new light on the animal colours we can see, but also to understand the importance of colours that we can’t.’
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My dog Rover can see in colour.....he runs really fast when I throw a big red piece of meat and when I throw a green apple he has no interest!. He runs after red apples, and eats them, suppose thinking it's meat! He's clever, but unfortunately, even although educational standards have declined under Liebour, he will not go to Oxford as it's unlikely he will reach 18 years!..... pity....I was hoping that he could outrun another Tony Blair, and become Prime Minister.
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And then we think- how on earth did they find all this out? - Molly, Chad - It's what research scientists, evolutionary biologists, geneticists and researchers do.
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What rubbish. If squirrels can't see colours. how did they know they should be orange to blend in with fallen leaves? - Pricilla, West Oxfordshire, 3/7/2 - That's your homework for this week. I suggest that you start by Googling the question.
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It makes you wonder if perhaps we humans aren't seeing all there is to the world too ....... scary - Clare, Glasgow, - I'm quite sure that we aren't. There is so much to be learned and discovered. I don't find that scary, though, I think it is exciting. Probably what differentiates human beings from animals and plants.
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It makes you wonder if perhaps we humans aren't seeing all there is to the world too ....... scary - Clare, Glasgow, UK, 3/7/2012 23:50 === Well, we're not. Visible light is only a miniscule fraction of the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum. There's ultraviolet, as mentioned, just out of sight on one side, and infrared just out of sight on the other (think Predator), but then there's microwaves (as in the oven) and radio waves (obvious) after infrared, and X-rays (as in the hospital imaging system) and gamma rays (as in, BOOM!!!) after ultraviolet. If you didn't know, they're all exactly the same process, except that they have different frequencies and wavelengths. There's nothing to wonder about. We humans indeed are not seeing all there is to the world, not by a long shot. I hope this doesn't keep you awake at night. :P
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WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY. WHO ACTUALLY CARES - mr brown, London, 03/7/2012 21:47 === Who cares? I do. And likely so does anybody else with even an ounce, gramme, gram, pound, stone, whatever, of curiosity about the true nature of the world around them. The world is an amazingly wonderful place, full of mystery and complexity, and even if we humans devoted the rest of our collective existence from now until the end of everything we could only ever discover a fraction of how things really work. There's always something new to learn, always another discovery around the corner. It's wonderful, miraculous, enticing, and... oh, never mind. Education and scientific curiosity is simply wasted on some people. Go grab another beer and order a pizza and watch the footie instead, Mr Brown. Just kindly keep your ignorance with you. Thank you.
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A Royal Society exhibition? Trivial drivel from a discredited organisation. I bet they are trying to work out a way to blame our colour vision for causing global warming.
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It makes you wonder if perhaps we humans aren't seeing all there is to the world too ....... scary
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deangilbo, berlin germany, 03/7/2012 22:17 - WHO CARES??? --------- Well we should, in Socrates time the human eye could not perceive the colour blue and so the sea was thought to be red as was the sky. The other day scientists confirmed the discovery of a woman whose eyes are more evolved than most people at present as such she can perceive 99 million more colours that the majority of us. What this shows is how we evolve as humans, how we can help to restore sight to others. So if you lost your eye sight I would wonder if you thought it such a waste of money then??? You really are very myopic (short sighted) aren't you????
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What a load of rubbish,i know animals see colour,i have hear people say cats dont like sweet things but my cat loves cakes.
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