How Do Dogs See Color
In the eyes of a dog the world is in white and in various shades of grey. This is due to the fact that dogs are believed to have no ability to see colors. Dogs are acclaimed for their heightened senses. Dogs are renowned for being outstanding guard dogs because of their very sensitive scenting and hearing abilities. Excellent vision is what makes sighthounds outstanding hunters. One of the advantages of dogs over humans is the ability to see well in the dark . With dog that taking on the guarding duty, the people in the house can have a good nights rest.
With these ultrasensitive senses, it is surprising to note that dogs are believed incapable of seeing colors. Dogs do have the ability to see colors but not in the same way humans can. The fact that dogs can see colors was proven by a study on canine vision conducted in the University of California. Yes, Fido cannot appreciate the new bright red ball as to the eyes of the dog the new toy would appear to be a hard to see black or dark brownish gray ball.
It has always been claimed that the genetics of dogs is similar to humans. Similar to humans, a dogs eye has special cells called cone photoreceptors that controls color perception by catching the light. However, while humans have three cone photoreceptors, dogs only have two. The three cones in the central part of the human retina give humans 100% full range vision while the two cone types in a dog’s eye deliver only about 20 % range of color vision. This makes the dog’s vision about six times less inferior than human vision.
In the eyes of Fido the rainbow colors would be blue, light blue, grey, light yellow, brownish yellow and dark grey instead of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This means that in the eyes of a dog, the world is basically colored in blue, grey and yellow. In spite of the limited colors seen, a dog has the surprising ability to differentiate the subtle change in colors that creates various shades of violets and blues.
Humans do not have this ability because the human eyes have a yellow pigmentation that reduces the sensitivity of the eye to blue and violet lights by blocking the short wavelengths. Dogs have an enhanced ability to see various shades of light and blue as the eyes of dogs do not have this yellow pigmentation.
Find out more about how dogs see color and dog first aid at Sarah’s Dogs.
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