How does a bee see the world? New technology reveals how animals see colors

Have you always wanted to know how animals see the world? This may soon become possible because new technology provides information about how they perceive colors.

Different animals see the world differently based on how their eyes work. Humans have three types of color-sensing cells, called cone cells, in their retinas that allow them to see wavelengths of red, green, and blue light. The combination of these three colors forms the rainbow of colors we see every day.

Unlike humans, animals can… honey bee Hummingbirds see ultraviolet light because of the structure of their eyes. This helps them search for nectar and opens up a wide range of colors that we cannot even imagine.

To understand how these creatures communicate and interact with their environment, scientists can reconstruct their worldview. However, traditional methods are often time-consuming, require special lighting, or cannot capture moving images.

New technology now allows ecologists and filmmakers to produce videos that reproduce the colors seen by different animals with more than 90 percent accuracy.

How does the animal eye view camera work?

“We have long been fascinated by the way animals see the world,” says Daniel Hanley, one of the authors. Stady He is an assistant professor of biology at George Mason University in Virginia.

Hanley adds that animals often make important decisions about targets based on moving objects, so moving images are essential to understanding them.

The new camera system records in four different color channels: blue, green, red and ultraviolet. The images are then processed based on what is already known about the photoreceptors in the animals' eyes to create an accurate representation of what they see.

“The camera system and associated software package will allow ecologists to study how animals use color in dynamic displays of behavior, how natural lighting changes perceived colors, and address other questions that have remained unanswered due to a lack of appropriate tools,” the researchers wrote. .

The technology was developed by scientists at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and the Hanley Color Laboratory at George Mason University in the United States. It uses cameras that anyone can buy, open source software, and 3D printing so other teams around the world can recreate the animal's perspective.

see you later the video To see the world from an animal's perspective.