Do they see extra colors? See details.

I think I’ve posted this on Fluther before… but some flowers look very different to our eyes than they do to the eyes of their pollinators. Presumably, this has a positive effect on pollination.

If there are extra colors I would have seen them by now. Took a lot of crazy junk in my younger days. Crazy. I have seen a pink elephant though if that helps.

The number of colors is directly related to the number of different color receptors in the eye. Humans have 3 kinds of color receptors, which is why there are three primary colors. If the insect has more than three, then there would be more primary colors.

I wonder if there are glasses that can make humans see the world like a bee? They always come after me, I wonder what they see?

My birds trip on certain patterns & colors like bold orange & paisley so yeah they see differently.

^^^ You have paisley flowers? Wow.

@glacial Outstanding link. Thanks. You may have posted it before, but this it the first time I’ve seen it.

@DWW25921 There were no new colors in @glacial‘s link, but then I’m looking at the photos with human eyes that can only see the 3 primary colors and mixtures of them.

@PhiNotPi It sure would be interesting to jack into such a brain and be able to see what its eyes are taking in. BTW, there is a human mutation currently only found in a few women that adds a 4th type of cone receptor to the eye. Compared to them, the rest of us are all partially color blind. But pigeons have 5 sets of color receptors. They must see a very interesting world.

@JLeslie Unfortunately, there is no external technology that can let us see colors for which we have no receptors in our eyes. Even if we were somehow able to jack a pigeon’s eyes into our brains, our brains haven’t ever learned to decode those signals. Unless it was done from infancy on, we probably wouldn’t be able to see any colors we don’t already see. And besides, where would we put them on the color wheel? It’s already full. :-)

@KNOWITALL Birds have some incredible vision. No question birds see differently.

@gailcalled Did the evil nurse relent and give you more pain meds? I don’t think @KNOWITALL mentioned flowers. :-)

@ETPro; She did mention birds. I perhaps extrapolated.

Funny that you should mention drugs. I am lying here, waiting for the Percocet to kick in, cursing the doctor and blessing Steve Jobs for the Macbook Air.

@gailcalled I’ve been there one time too many. Birds = flowers? Get better soon. :-)

@JLeslie: Bees are attracted to smells more than they are to colors. If you’re going to be outdoors with a potential for bees and wasps, it’s a good idea to avoid the following:

- perfume
– scented soaps, shampoos and lotions
– scented laundry detergents

Hummingbirds do choose flowers by color, don’t they? Are there more species than the hummers?