Animals Beyond Visible Light & Infrared

[zuz]

Do any animals see in a spectrum other than visible light and infrared?

 

[hutchphd]

Bees and butterflies see into the ultraviolet. But as far as I know most animal vision is rather narrowly centered at the max solar ouput (yellow light).

 

[Drakkith]

Some animals, such as certain insects, can see into the near-UV, but as hutchphd said most animals see approximately the same spectrum as we do.

 

[gleem]

While pit vipers may not really see they do sense infrared and are capable of finding warm blooded prey in the dark. Apparently some fish, insects, frogs, and vampire bats can "see" the infrared spectrum.

 

[zuz]

Yeah. That's pretty much what I thought. Thanks.

 

[Mark44]

Bees and butterflies see into the ultraviolet. But as far as I know most animal vision is rather narrowly centered at the max solar ouput (yellow light).

I found several images of how humans and bees view flowers differently.

Here's one of a primrose, as seen by a human vs. as seen by a bee, according to Norwegian scientist-cameraman Bjorn Roslett, in the Daily Mail, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-view-How-insects-flowers-differently-us.html. The image on the right is in ultraviolet, which is presumably the part of the spectrum that bees can see.

Because we cannot see UV light, the colours in these photographs are representational, but the patterns are real.

 

[BillTre]

Bees can see near UV which for them is called bee-purple.
Patterns on flowers can provide target patterns leading the bees to the pollen the flowers want (anthropomorphically speaking) the bees to find for pollination purposes.
A variety of animals can also see polarized light also. But not in unusual wavelengths.

 

[Rive]

An interesting example will pop up if you make a search for 'hawk rodent urine trail'

 

[256bits]

This is certainly interesting.

Hummingbirds see colours humans can only imagine | UBC Science - Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia

The wide variety of nonspectral colours available to birds is the result of their ancient four colour cone visual system.

"Tetrachromacy — having four colour cone types — evolved in early vertebrates," said Stoddard. "This colour vision system is the norm for birds, many fish and reptiles, and it almost certainly existed in dinosaurs. We think the ability to perceive many nonspectral colours is not just a feat of hummingbirds but a widespread feature of animal colour vision.

For humans, purple is the clearest example of a nonspectral colour. Technically, purple is not in the rainbow: it arises when our blue (short-wave) and red (long-wave) cones are stimulated, but not green (medium-wave) cones. While humans perceive just one kind of nonspectral colour — purple — birds can theoretically see up to five: purple, ultraviolet+red, ultraviolet+green, ultraviolet+yellow and ultraviolet+purple.

https://science.ubc.ca/news/hummingbirds-see-colours-humans-can-only-imagine

 

[BillTre]

Snapping shrimp appear to win with 12 to 16 (yes, twelve to sixteen!) "color" receptor cells.
Some of the distinctions may be due to filtering of incoming light by lens chemicals before it gets to the photo receptive cells of the compound eye rather than different receptor molecules.
Some species can detect circularly polarized light.
Not all of the different colors may be combined into a single "colorized" image. Different photoreceptor cells project their connections to different parts of the snapping shrimp brain.
Some of these different "colors" may be involved in mating displays and attractions (which could be separate specialized systems in the brain (small though it be)).