Color in Nature

This is a visually stunning book, and at a first glance you could imagine that it is going to be just a collection of images. But this is a great resource on colours, how they are created and perceived, and what effects they have.

To a birdwatcher like me, the names of the authors will be unfamiliar, but in the worlds of visual neuroscience and evolutionary biology they are all at the top of their game. In this lavishly illustrated book, they have combined their understanding of colour and what it means to the various animal groups, whether it is about attraction, defence or finding food.

Unlike humans, some animals including birds, bees, reptiles, and some bony fish, can see ultraviolet light. However other such as snakes can see infrared light, which allows them to see heat. Some mammals, for example cats and dogs, can only see two colours. And of course, not all of us see colours the same way, and colour blindness affects more people than you might imagine.

Despite the authority of the text, it is likely that most people will find themselves distracted by the photographs which have been sourced carefully to support it. There are some examples used from the world of birds, such as the brightness of flamingo plumages created when they eat algae which contain carotenoids that metabolise to create the colours. There are also hummingbirds which have feathers that may be dull but covered with a thin layer of clear cells which reflect light striking the feather from just the right angle to create brilliant red, violet or green. There are also examples of how birds see colour compared to how we do.

Birds only make up a small selection of the examples used, but even though we have around 11,000 bird species we need to remember that other animal groups put us in the shade (as it were!). There are, for example 160,000 butterfly species to give just one example. This book is an eye-opener in more ways than you might think.