In the eyes of a dog the world is in white and in various shades of grey. It was once believed that dogs do not have the ability to see colors. Dogs are highly valued for their ultrasensitive senses. Dogs are renowned for being outstanding guard dogs because of their very sensitive scenting and hearing abilities. Sighthounds are breeds highly valued for their excellent vision. It is generally believed that human's best friend has the knack of seeing better in the dark . With dog that taking on the guarding duty, the people in the house can have a good nights rest.
Nature has endowed our furry friends with very sensitive senses but the ability to see colors in the same way humans can was left out. Dogs do have the ability to see colors but not in the same way humans can. Canine vision was studied in the University of California and it was proven that although a dog's capability to see colors is not as detailed as human's, dogs can indeed see colors. Due to the dog's less detailed vision, a new red chew toy may not be appreciated as in the dog's eye the color of the toy will either be black or grey.
Humans and dogs are very similar in genetics. Similar to humans, a dogs eye has special cells called cone photoreceptors that controls color perception by catching the light. A dog's eye only has two cone photoreceptors while humans have three. Because dogs only have two cone photoreceptors, their color vision range is only 20% of what humans have. As expected, this will make the dog's vision far inferior than human vision.
The ROYGBIV colors of the rainbow will be seen by the dog as blue, light blue, grey, light yellow, brownish yellow and dark grey. This means that in the eyes of a dog, the world is basically colored in blue, grey and yellow. Given the dog's limited vision for color, it is quite surprising that our loyal companions can distinguish the subtle alterations of colors that creates different shades of blue and violets.
Humans cannot see the slight change in the shades of violet and blues because of the yellow pigmentation that obstructs short wavelengths and lessens the eyes' sensitivity. Dogs have an enhanced ability to see various shades of light and blue as the eyes of dogs do not have this yellow pigmentation.
Nature has endowed our furry friends with very sensitive senses but the ability to see colors in the same way humans can was left out. Dogs do have the ability to see colors but not in the same way humans can. Canine vision was studied in the University of California and it was proven that although a dog's capability to see colors is not as detailed as human's, dogs can indeed see colors. Due to the dog's less detailed vision, a new red chew toy may not be appreciated as in the dog's eye the color of the toy will either be black or grey.
Humans and dogs are very similar in genetics. Similar to humans, a dogs eye has special cells called cone photoreceptors that controls color perception by catching the light. A dog's eye only has two cone photoreceptors while humans have three. Because dogs only have two cone photoreceptors, their color vision range is only 20% of what humans have. As expected, this will make the dog's vision far inferior than human vision.
The ROYGBIV colors of the rainbow will be seen by the dog as blue, light blue, grey, light yellow, brownish yellow and dark grey. This means that in the eyes of a dog, the world is basically colored in blue, grey and yellow. Given the dog's limited vision for color, it is quite surprising that our loyal companions can distinguish the subtle alterations of colors that creates different shades of blue and violets.
Humans cannot see the slight change in the shades of violet and blues because of the yellow pigmentation that obstructs short wavelengths and lessens the eyes' sensitivity. Dogs have an enhanced ability to see various shades of light and blue as the eyes of dogs do not have this yellow pigmentation.
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