Well can they? More importantly, SHOULD THEY

Dog can't look at rainbow (too beautiful)
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[–] 9 points 1 week ago* (7 children)

Yeah, they have significantly fewer cones than we do and even then, just yellow and blue. If they (OP) want to understand what a dog sees, they should have a conversation with a tetrachromat.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Isn’t it the mantis shrimp that has the most cones? I wonder how they would see a rainbow? (I mean they don’t because they are underwater and again probably wouldn’t feel that whimsy when looking we do).

    I can’t even look it up because it’s like trying to understand a fourth dimensional shape. You can describe it but you can’t really see it.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 week ago

    I think they have some of the most kinds of photoreceptors in their cones, something like 12 to 16, compared to our 3 (or rarely, 4). However, we and dogs perceive color in a way described by the oppositional process theory. It's kinda like extrapolating other colors for which which we don't have photoreceptors that activate most at that frequency. For example, yellow light falls between red and green frequencies. So our brains register the brightness of the light and the extent to which the red and green photoreceptors are activated proportionally, and it infers the color yellow.

    Mantis shrimp have a far lower encephalization quotient, so it's unlikely they have the resources to do this kind of processing. I think they just go with the most activated photoreceptor, which would explain why they need so many. It's still entirely possible that they can see more colors than us, though. Also, it's almost a certainty that their visible spectrum is different from our own. Many animals can perceive ultraviolet or infrared light that we cannot.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago

    Afaik Mantis Shrimp have more cones because their brains can't combine colours like human brains - ours can process the ratios of different wavelengths into colours, while they need a separate cone to detect each colour. I believe their total range is smaller than humans, but extends down into the IR wavelengths.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    Thanks for reminding me to get back on designing t-shirts that are only offensive to people with various versions of colorblindness.

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