# How do we know what colors animals see? Are any creatures able to see more colors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 16, 2000, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-what-colors-animals-see-are-any-creatures-able-to-see-more-colors/33430 "2000-09-16T21:00:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-what-colors-animals-see-are-any-creatures-able-to-see-more-colors/33430/21 "2017-08-07T13:10:11Z")
> [@TheNerd](#): > > The human retina is actually sensitive to ultraviolet as well, but the lenses of our eyes are opaque to it. So, we _could_ see ultraviolet with the proper modifications. I wonder how an adult brain would process it. I have little doubt that a person growing up able to see UV would find it completely natural. Based on people I’ve spoken to post-cataract operation with UV-transparent lenses (which are becoming more uncommon) it appears as blue or purple patterns they couldn’t see before. Very anecdotal. > [@scr4](#): > > I have no idea if there are animals out there with more than 3 types of cones. I’m glad we only see 3 colors though - imagine how expensive TVs and color film would be if they had to reproduce, say, 5 colors. Most bird species have four types of cones rather than the three seen in humans, in other words, they’re pretty much all tetrachromats. And birds definitely qualify as “animals”. The mantis shrimp with its astounding 12 different visual pigments has also been mentioned. > [@Sunspace](#): > > And what happens to the viewed colour balance of artwork, painted surfaces, TV sets, computer displays, and so on, for viewers who have a greater visual colour range than the designers anticipated? I could just see a UV-viewer raising hell in art class… How does someone being colorblind affect the color balance of artwork, etc.? For a tetrachromat the normal human is essentially colorblind. Artwork produced by such a person is going to look normal to the average human, but tetrachromats are probably going to be VERY picky about color selection and mixing. > [@scr4](#): > > Wouldn’t the UV damage the retina though? Would you really want UV-transparent lens? Yep. Your retina is basically highly modified skin tissue, and we all know what extended exposure to UV radiation can do to skin, right? Melanoma can occur in the retina, which is a skin cancer linked to UV exposure. If you get UV-transparent lenses I highly recommend you wear UV blocking sunglasses outside most of the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-what-colors-animals-see-are-any-creatures-able-to-see-more-colors/33430.md?page=1)