Can Cats See Color?
Cats are actually not color blind and are capable of seeing color. Although world is not limited to just black and white, the color spectrum they can see is still less than what humans can see.
Scientists will don’t know for sure which colors and shades cats can see. Most agree that cats can see blues and greys, and some think they can see yellows.
What Colors Can Cats See?
It’s most likely that cats can see in the same way a color blind person sees. This means they can see muted tones of blues, yellows and greys, but reds and greens are difficult to tell apart. Likewise, any colors contains red and green tones will be harder to differentiate. For example, purple would be hard to tell apart from pink because both contain some tones of red.
Why Can Cats See Color?
Cats have a similar eye structure to that of humans. The retina of the eye has two man structures that allow cats to see. One structure is rods which are responsible for their peripheral (side) and night vision.
A cat’s eye also contains cones, which allow them to see in the daytime and see color. These cones are color-sensitive and allow cats to tell different colors apart.
Cats don’t see as many colors on the spectrum because they don’t have as many cones as humans. In fact, they have about 10% the cones that humans have.
Alternatively, cats can see really well at night because they have a lot more rods than humans. And here’s a fun fact: cats aren’t actually nocturnal! Even though they see really well at night, they’re actually considered crepuscular, which means they’re awake most at dawn and dusk.
Do Cats Have Good Eyesight?
Although cat’s have limited eyesight with regards to how many colors they can see, they actually have excellent eyesight overall.
As mentioned earlier, cats have great night vision due to the high number of rods in their eyes. Cats only need about 1/6 the amount of light humans need to see.
Additionally, cat have great depth perception which helps them to hunt and track their prey. Depth perception is important in calculating big jumps (like onto the counter or cat tree). It’s also useful in detecting prey scurrying away. If you’ve ever seen a cat snatch a bug right out of the air, that’s partially due to their excellent depth perception!
