Why are dogs color blind?

[sncbird]

My 6 year DS is home sick from school today and asked me this question. I have no idea is what I told him but I will try to find out the answer because now it's driving me nuts!!!

Thanks for any feedback

 

[MICKEY88]

Can dogs see color?
by David the Dogman


It is not true that dogs are completely colourblind. While dogs do not have the same color vision as humans, they are able to tell yellow from blue. Like a human with red-green colourblindness, they are unable to tell the difference between red and green.

The reason for this limited range, in both the colourblind human and the dog, is that there are only two kinds of colour receptors in the retinas of their eyes. While most humans have three kinds of colour cells, with three different receptor molecules sensitive to blue, greenish-yellow, and red, dogs only have receptors for yellow and greenish-blue.

Canine eyes also lack another human trait: the fovea, an area especially dense with detail-sensing cells. As a result, their detail vision is not as good as ours. But they make up for this by having much better night vision and greater sensitivity to movement.

 

[sncbird]

Thank you for the information!! Very interesting!! I'll be sure to fill in my DS

 

[tkd lisa]

Wow! I thought it was because they didn't have both rods and cones in their eyes. That was the answer in our grade school science book. Things have gotten much more complicated in the last 30 years!

Live and learn.

 

[alabamaalan]

Originally posted by MICKEY88
Like a human with red-green colourblindness, they are unable to tell the difference between red and green.

You mean guide dogs aren't looking at the traffic lights??

DW is a guide dog user and that is one of the common, but understandable, misconceptions from the public.