Plant and animals

[Shackles11]

Why might plant and animals have bright colours?

[Clanad]

The primary reason is to attract other things for reproduction. Either the opposite sex or, in the case of plants, insects to assist in pollination....There are other reasons however...

[andy-hughes]

The usual reasons are to attract - as Clanad advises, for reproduction, or to repel, as in deterring predators. Some insects are brighly coloured, warning birds that they taste nasty, and should be avoided. Evolution has cleverly arranged that other insects adopt the same colouring, even though they are suitable for dinner, so that they can escape being eaten and thrive.

Plants almost always have bright colours to attract animals or insects that assist reproduction - bees carry pollen to other flowers to assist reproduction, some animals and birds eat brightly coloured plants and the seeds are distributed in the animal's faeces, ensuring new growth next season.

[hammerman]

Camoflage is another reason....almost all of the stunningly coloured fish that we see on coral reefs throughout the tropics change colour when they swim deeper.

EG a bright daffodil yellow fish looks stunning at 2' deep but at 20 meters, the colour appears grey and blends in well with the coral. A bright magenta will also turn brown when deep.

Him upstairs gave all these wonderful plants and creatures their colours for a reason...not so they'd look nice to us !!!!!

[wildwood]

One instance of importance of colour in plants... fruit is green and not obvious until it is ripe. Then it turns a bright yellow, orange or whatever colour to advertise to the animals around that there is something nice and tasty to eat. Little do the animals know that the tree has cleverly designed its seeds so that it doesn't sprout until it has passed through the digestive system of an animal. The seeds ingested by the animals is deposited a fair distance from the tree in a readymade manure package. A pretty clever way of propagating and spreading its own species, don't you think?