Deer have excellent night vision, thanks to eyes with a high concentration of rods, an oval pupal that acts like an aperture on a camera, and a layer of tissue that acts like a mirror and magnifies light. The difference in the way that humans and deer see goes beyond color. Murphy participated in research done at the University of Georgia in the 1990s, where different wavelengths of light were emitted into the eyes of sedated deer and researchers measured the deer’s brainstem responses. “They’re essentially red-green color blind,” said Brian Murphy, a wildlife biologist and the CEO of Quality Deer Management Association. They can pick out short (blue) and middle (green) wavelength colors, but they’re less sensitive to long wavelength colors such as red and orange. What researchers have found is that deer can see colors, though they don’t experience them in the same way we do. Deer vision has been studied on a molecular level using DNA cloning, electroretinography, and scanning electron microscopy it’s also been studied in more old school ways using positive and negative stimuli tests on live, captive animals.
(For the record, there is overwhelming evidence that wearing bright colors during rifle season saves human lives, and blaze orange is mandatory in some states.) On the other hand, there’s a similar conspiracy theory that holds that maybe it’s just the camo clothing companies who are blurring the truth here, as it’s in their best interest to sell you two sets of hunting clothes, one for each season.įortunately whitetailed deer have been exhaustively studied over the past hundred years, and there’s a significant scientific record we can turn to to separate rumor from fact. Over the years I’ve had hunters tell me that deer can too see color, and that the conventional deer-are-color-blind thing is a white lie dreamed up by well-meaning government officials who were tired of hunters shooting one and other. If you take a moment to flip through your now complete seasonal collection, you might find yourself wondering why during archery season in October the companies were trying to sell you the latest and greatest camo patterns that would make you invisible to deer, but then, during rifle season in November, the same companies tried to sell you glowing blaze orange suits – but don’t worry, deer can’t see those colors anyway. God help you if you save your seed catalogues, too. If you’re a hunter who’s ever ordered something from a sporting goods company, it’s probably safe to assume that you’ve been so inundated with catalogues over the past four months.
0 kommentar(er)
