VISUAL COMPARISON -

With this visual comparison exercise, you will better understand the differences between how we see color versus how animals see color.

Scientifically speaking, RODS and CONES are what allow any creature to perceive light and color. Rods are the cells located along the retina that are most sensitive to light levels, while cones are the cells that perceive colors. In humans, there are higher levels of cones than rods, meaning we see colors very well but have less-than-perfect night vision. Many mammals, like deer, have rods and cones, but they are structured far differently. The number of rods far exceeds our own, allowing them to behave very well nocturnally. The cones however are far less than ours, and they in fact are missing a specific cone that aids color perception, making them red-green colorblind. This is why blaze orange clothing does not bother them... they perceive the red and green spectrums as roughly the same shade of pale yellow.

So what does all of this mean? In a nutshell, it means that most of the colors used in camouflage today are pointless because the animals cannot distinguish them anyway.