Can cats see colour?

“Hi, I’m Bear!

I’m renowned for my love of carrots, but do I see them how you see them? I like to play ‘cat’ch with them and hide them around my home, purrticularly up high on the cat walkways and under the piano.

It’s my way of testing new cattendants to see if they purr-s the test to join the crew.

DISPELLING THE MYTH

I’m going to keep this artickle short and sweet (just like me!) but I heard someone say something the ofur day that really ruffled my fluff and I just had to put the record straight… us cats CAN see colour! Meow don’t get me wrong, our purrty eyes aren’t as sophisticated at di’fur’entiating colour as your human eyes are, but we aren’t to’tail’y colour blind either. It’s a commonly held myth that animals only see in black and white but I’d like to purrove otherwise. In true cat fashion, I jumped on the humans laptop and did some research. Hairs what I found out…

IT’S E-FUR-LUTION BABY!

Our eyes evolved to be the most use for the needs of our species, so humans are good at seeing distances, finer details and colours while we are just purrfect at seeing in low light, across a wider range and noticing fast-moving prey (such as a carrot thrown at lightning speed through the cafe for me to pounce on!) 1.

The two ‘cat’egories of photoreceptor cells, rods and cones, are useful for difurent types of sight. Rods (which I have more of) are great for low-light and peripheral vision. Cones (which you have more of) are better for colour 2.

Cats and dogs cone photoreceptors can tell blue and green light but you humans also have a third type of cone cell that can detect red. Because we aren’t sensitive to red light, we see colours as more dull, a bit like colour blindness in humans. Tests have been done on dogs, who have the same type of cells as us, that show they can tell red from blue, but often confuse red and green and perceive green as grey just like people who are colour blind 3.

Our pupils can dilate really far too, so that we can take in more light or just look super cute when begging for extra treats. Yes, I am talking about you Pumpkin!

What Do Cats See?

There’s even an artist called Nickolay Lamm who took the time to research the difurences between human and feline eyes to repurresent to you how cats-eye-view looks:

…and just Bearcause I know I’m cute, and you’ve earned it by reading to the end of my artickle, here are some pics of me showing how clever I am at seeing the colour orange…

I know you can’t get enough of the fluff, so fur an added bonus, hair is a cute video of me choosing my carrot-du-jour.

ABOUT THE AU-FUR

“Hi, I’m Bear!

They call me Bear the Bold! I am the bravest cat, the loudest and the smallest but I have the biggest purrsonality. I am a proud female feline who doesn’t let the boys push me around. Nobody can tell me what to do, so I write about whatever I am feline at the time, from current afurrs to my fafurrite picks of cat-related news. I also really like carrots.

Be my furriend on Facebook Bear Pause and Instagram @bear_pause

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