cats

[nutty29]

my son would like to know,do cats see in colour ?

[retro dog]

Cats only see in black and white. Dogs can see red and green.

[kipchik]

Who decided this and where is the proof?

[kuhugaq]

optokinetic nystagmus, is a process that can determin colour blindness.it can be used on humans and animals alike.hope this is the proof your looking for kipchic.ps (i thought dogs were colour blind too retro dog?)

[Catso]

There was a whole BBC series about how animals perceived/sensed the world.

As I recall, cat's vision was monochrome except for the very center of their vision, where they had limited (from our point of view) colour perception IE rather washed-out colours. They also had a sort of fish-eye effect, that magnified the centre of their field of view.

(I hope my memory serves correct, here)

[Catso]

PS, I can't remember whether they could see all colours equally, or had a bias.

[seekeerz]

I'm with kipchik on this one, how on earth did the cats & dogs indicate what they COULD actually see ???

[what..the?]

I am with kuhugag here, I think there's a good chance this can be tested.

With all the new scientific developments, your telling me they don't know what a cats vision is compared to ours.

I have been shown on TV the world though a bee/wasp eye with the oct/hex perception.

[Catso]

Not hard. For example: construct two pedals, one red, one green, of colour intensities so that they look identical in monochrome. Make the red one release a cat treat when pressed, the green one not. Watch what the cat does.

I'm sure the real tests are more sophisicated than this, but that's the principle.

[electricblue]

our old rottie would go out in the van,when we stopped at traffic lights,she would sit forward,look at the lights,when they turned amber she would lean back,when they turned green she would push her self back ,she knew when they were going,anyway point is my dog has never told me what colour she can see in,so maybe i just dont have a talking dog!

[newtron]

Try this link:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_004.ht ml

[sophie_1003]

We had a very good CD a while a go, it was a Dorling Kindersley one and it was a virtual museum about cats called if I recall correctly Cat, actually just had a look and we've still got it; but on that there's this bit where you could see things from a cats eye view, on that colours were visible but were very dull. We also have a Bird one!

[nixipalmer]

I'm sure they can see red

[missyjones]

nixipalmer - don't know about all cats but mine can definitely see red. He sits on top of the TV when I'm watching the Grand Prix and everytime a red car appears he paws at it until it's gone off the screen! Or maybe he just doesn't care for Michael Schumacher.