How Do We Know That Some Animals See More Colors?

“How do we know that some animals can see more colors than us if we can’t speak to them?”

Great question, Hope! While we can’t talk to the animals, we can examine their eyes. When we do that, we find specific cells in them that help us know what colors an animal can or cannot see. Human eyes contain rods and cones. Cones help us see color.1 If an animal has cones, then it can see color, although whether it processes color the way humans do is unknown and may vary from animal to animal.

Cone cells help us see color.
By Christine Blume, Corrado Garbazza & Manuel Spitschan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

We can tell which colors an animal can see by looking at the types of cones it has. We have three types of cones, which allow us to see a spectrum of colors. Most animals only have two types (like dogs and cats), meaning they see less color than we do.2 But a few animals have three types of cones like us, and others have more than three, which lets them see colors that we can’t see.3

For example, most birds and fish have four types of cone cells,4 and mantis shrimp have up to 16!5 Pretty cool, huh? These animals use their special eye designs to do what God designed them to do.

Mantis shrimp have the most cone cells of any animal that we know of.
By Claus Giering on Unsplash

Do you have a question about the Bible? Ask your parents to help you submit your question today. We’d love to hear from you!

Footnotes

1. Cleveland Clinic, “Photoreceptors (Rods and Cones),” last updated May 6, 2024, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/photoreceptors-rods-and-cones.
2. Laura Kelley, “Inside the Colourful World of Animal Vision,” The Conversation, November 6, 2014, https://theconversation.com/inside-the-colourful-world-of-animal-vision-30878.
3. Kelley, “Inside the Colourful World.”
4. Kelley, “Inside the Colourful World.”
5. Stuart Blackman, “Mantis Shrimp Have the Most Complex Eyes in the Animal Kingdom. Here’s Why,” Discover Wildlife, March 14, 2024, https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mantis-shrimp-eyes.