Can a Dog See Colors

Due to a superb ability to see in dark, dogs can hunt at night. Apart from the ultrasensitive nose, a dog’s incredible ability to see in the dark are the reasons why dog owners can sleep soundly at night.  Aside from vision, dogs are noted to have senses that are more sensitive to what humans have. A dog’s vision is rather poor as compared to human’s. It is also commonly believed that dogs cannot distinguish colors.

Is it true that a dog’s world is in black and white? Should we believe that the dog’s environment is in various shades of grey? Contrary to the common beliefs about the dogs’ inability to see colors, dogs can in fact see colors. Yes, dogs can see colors but their ability to distinguish colors is not as sharp as human’s. Dogs can see colors but their vision has a limited color range. Unfortunately, dogs cannot see all the colors of the rainbow.

The eyes of dogs have the same cone photoreceptor cells we humans have. These photoreceptor cells control color perception by catching the light. While there are three of these photoreceptor cells in humans, dogs only have two. Because dogs only have two of these cells their color perception is only about 20%.

Dogs are color blind because they cannot distinguish the colors red, orange, green and purple. This condition makes dog’s vision inferior to what humans have. In spite of the inferior ability to distinguish colors, dogs can see the subtle change in shades of blue and violet, a feat that humans cannot do. People do not have the ability to distinguish the subtle change in the shades of these colors as human eyes have the yellow pigmentation that blocks short wavelengths and reduces the eye’s sensitivity to blue and violet lights.

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