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 Man's best friend is colorblind, but, fortunately,
his survival does not depend upon the ability to see colors.
His keen sense of smell compensates for his inability to see
colors, and enables him to differentiate between things.
Extensive scientific testing on dogs supports the
conclusion that they live in a colorless world. The testing
done primarily focussed on the dogs' responses to colors for
food. Dogs could not tell the difference between one color, a
signal for food, and other colors, that were not for food.
Similar tests conducted on cats produced similar results,
which led scientists to conclude that they, too, are
colorblind and live in a gray world.
The inability of most animals to see colors, from an
evolutionary standpoint, is quite simple to understand. Many
colorblind animals have dull-colored coats, hunt for food in
the dark of night, or graze in the dim twilight hours. Their
other senses have developed to the point where the lack of
color vision in no way impairs them. For them, life in a
colorless world is neither a handicap, nor a threat to their
survival.
The only animals, other than man, scientists can
conclusively say have color vision are monkeys and apes. Both
can be trained to open a colored door, behind which is food,
and man can be trained to open a refrigerator door of any
color! |
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