* Can dogs see colours?

Can dogs see colours?

No.

Man's best friend is colourblind, but, fortunately, his survival does not depend upon the ability to see colours. His keen sense of smell compensates for his inability to see colours, and enables him to differentiate between things.

Extensive scientific testing on dogs supports the conclusion that they live in a colourless world. The testing done primarily focussed on the dogs' responses to colours for food. Dogs could not tell the difference between one colour, a signal for food, and other colours, that were not for food. Similar tests conducted on cats produced similar results, which led scientists to conclude that they, too, are colourblind and live in a gray world.

The inability of most animals to see colours, from an evolutionary standpoint, is quite simple to understand. Many colourblind animals have dull-coloured coats, hunt for food in the dark of night, or graze in the dim twilight hours. Their other senses have developed to the point where the lack of colour vision in no way impairs them. For them, life in a colourless world is neither a handicap, nor a threat to their survival.

The only animals, other than man, scientists can conclusively say have colour vision are monkeys and apes. Both can be trained to open a coloured door, behind which is food, and man can be trained to open a refrigerator door of any colour!