Are Snakes Colour Blind?

[D & J Kershaw]

As I sit enjoying my Christmas presents and over eating, I ruminate on the
wonders of our world and come up against a wall of unanswered questions;
Like, "are snakes colour blind???"
Well, are they?
Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Regards David
p.s. That's the third bottle of Gin I have unwrapped!!!

[Patrick Alexander]

D & J Kershaw <dkys...@cableinet.co.uk> wrote:
: As I sit enjoying my Christmas presents and over eating, I ruminate on the

: wonders of our world and come up against a wall of unanswered questions;
: Like, "are snakes colour blind???"
: Well, are they?

Nope, they see color. Also, instead of having rods and cones, like
mammals and such, they've got a bunch of different structures that are a mix
of the two, and sense both brightness and color, or so the book I read a
while back said...

Patrick Alexander

"Is not pity the cross on which he was nailed who loves man?"

--Friedrich Nietzsche

[Sean Barry]

Patrick Alexander <paal...@indiana.edu> wrote:
: Nope, they see color. Also, instead of having rods and cones, like

: mammals and such, they've got a bunch of different structures that are a mix
: of the two, and sense both brightness and color, or so the book I read a
: while back said...

Please cite that book. It's at variance with most of what has been
discovered about snake vision during th past 50 years.

Sean Barry

[Patrick Alexander]

Sean Barry <sjb...@logan.ucdavis.edu> wrote:

: Patrick Alexander <paal...@indiana.edu> wrote:
: : Nope, they see color. Also, instead of having rods and cones, like
: : mammals and such, they've got a bunch of different structures that are a mix
: : of the two, and sense both brightness and color, or so the book I read a
: : while back said...

: Please cite that book.

I would if I had any clue which one it was. :)

: It's at variance with most of what has been

: discovered about snake vision during th past 50 years.

Hrm. Ah well.

Patrick Alexander

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death, Out, out, brief candle!"

--Shakespeare

[julietserranohayden]

Are bearded dragons color blind?
Frank
"Patrick Alexander" <paal...@indiana.edu> wrote in message
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[Thea]

Perhaps it was "Snakes A Natural History" edited by Roland Bauchot. This book says
that diurnal species "seem to have good colour vision" It does not say that they
lack rods and cones but rather that they are more diverse and complex in structure
then those in other vertebrates.

Thea

[Dan Berry]

Visual capabilities are quite variable between species. Some snakes may
indeed have rudimentary color vision. Here is a passage from "Australian
Snakes: A Natural History" (Richard Shine 1991, 1993):

"The eyes of snakes apparently lack oil droplets, which are used for colour
vision in other vertebrates. However, there is a wide variety of different
types of eye structures among snakes, involving cones and rods in the
retina, and at least some diurnal snakes are known to have red and green
colour receptors."

[JMB]

Commonly herpetologists agree that vision varies but the general vision of a
snake is not used the way we think of vision, its much more adept at
assisting its other sensory organs with detecting movement for feeding or
protection, and for assisting with the sensing of heating and cooling of
objects...

Dan Berry <danb...@nospam.net> wrote in message
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