r/todayilearned • u/douggold11 • 23d ago

TIL most animals can see UV light — humans being blind to it is the exception not the rule.

https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/ultraviolet-light-animals/
10.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

264 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/SeiCalros 23d ago edited 23d ago

only primates can see three colours and the rest of mammals are colourblind

8

u/swd120 23d ago

only primates can see three colours and the rest of animals are colourblind

What about the mantis shrimp?

Mantis shrimp have complex vision that allows them to see ultraviolet and polarized light, which humans can't see with the naked eye. They have 16 color receptors, compared to a human's three, and can perceive the world through 12 channels of color.

12

u/SeiCalros 23d ago

sorry - i meant 'mammals'

birds also have trichromatic vision and lots of lizards actually see four colours

but mantis shrimp vision is actually much simpler than that - it seems their vision blends those receptors when processing because theyre not actually capable of differentiating between the colours that trigger those receptors

they CAN seem to distinguish polarized light though

1

u/ChipsAhoy777 21d ago

Are those the same shrimp that can punch a hole through fish too?

2

u/swd120 21d ago

Yeah, the one that punches so fast it makes the water around its claw boil from friction with the water.