Scientists believe that hummingbirds can see colors that humans cannot even imagine.
Princeton, New Jersey – Colors mean a lot to us humans. Regardless of whether it is of an aesthetic or emotional nature. How important they are is shown by gripping images of color-blind people who can see the world in color again for the first time. According to scientists, we cannot even see the full spectrum of all nuances. According to planet-wissen.de , we only see around 40 percent of the colors contained in sunlight. And how we perceive colors obviously differs from person to person. Color perception is subjective. A color tone can be perceived very differently by two people.
In contrast to us, animals perceive colors differently, for example some see the world only in black and white. Still others see ultraviolet light. Something exciting is happening in the world of science right now: researchers assume that certain birds can see colors that we cannot even imagine.
Biologist: “One of the most exciting things I’ve ever experienced”
A team led by evolutionary biologist Mary Stoddard from Princeton University discovered that hummingbirds living in the wild can distinguish spectral colored food from non-spectral colored food. Spectral colors are the rainbow colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. “When I saw them do it right in front of my eyes – it was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen,” National Geographic quoted Stoddard as saying.
To make this discovery, the researchers placed water dispensers with LED lights attached to them near the laboratory. The LED lights were set to illuminate the liquids in different colors. The decisive factor was whether there was water containing sugar in the dispenser or just normal water. The hummingbirds quickly learned to associate one of the colors with fresh water.
Hummingbirds make use of their ability to forage
The sweetness was important because these birds feed on sweet flower nectar. “Even if the colors looked identical to us – for example, when the birds had to choose between a feeding place in UV green and one in normal green – they could see the difference,” says Stoddard.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hummingbirds are able to perceive 30 percent of the plumage of birds and 35 percent of the plant colors in non-spectral hues. These “people could not even imagine,” says Stoddard. Thanks to this ability, hummingbirds can find a lot of plants and their flower nectar. * FR is an offer from IPPEN.Media.
