The eyes don’t perceive Laurie, the brain does. Eyes are biomechanical constructs that can turn light energy into electrical signals. They have no perceptive ability. It is the brain that interprets those electrical signals. Some ancient Polynesian languages do not have the words to distinguish between certain colour groups, so individuals brought up in those communities have difficulty discerning differences in those colour groups. They have identical eye structures to us, so do see the colours. It’s just that they lack the language to describe what they see, so don’t see it. There are a number of ancient mariners on this forum, and I bet they have many different descriptions of the sea colours they have seen. However, I further bet none of them have seen the sea looking the colour of a glass of claret. Homer described the sea many times as “wine dark” in his ancient epic “odyssey “ though, so it was how he saw it. This was because the Greek language of the time had not developed the subtlety to distinguish between deep blue and deep red, so those colours were simply not discerned from each other.
Sparrows, actually all birds, have different structures in their eyes that allow their brains to perceive the world differently to us. They see into the ultraviolet spectrum for a start. They have four types of cone (light colour sensitive) cells, and these cells have further adaptations to allow better colour acuity. We only have three, and do not have the further adaptations. This evolutionary improvement allows birds to better discern food supplies at a distance (coloured berries stand out more from the bush background) and to determine between male and female individuals due to visible ultraviolet markers in the plumage. Comparing our vision with theirs is unfortunately therefore comparing apples with oranges.
Sparrows, actually all birds, have different structures in their eyes that allow their brains to perceive the world differently to us. They see into the ultraviolet spectrum for a start. They have four types of cone (light colour sensitive) cells, and these cells have further adaptations to allow better colour acuity. We only have three, and do not have the further adaptations. This evolutionary improvement allows birds to better discern food supplies at a distance (coloured berries stand out more from the bush background) and to determine between male and female individuals due to visible ultraviolet markers in the plumage. Comparing our vision with theirs is unfortunately therefore comparing apples with oranges.
) but in practice, it turns out that the Africans couldn’t distinguish some colours the Europeans can, and vice versa.
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