Incredible Facts About Color in Nature | SciShow Compilation
SciShow・23 minutes read
Living things exhibit a wide range of colors, with some achieving vivid hues through structural coloration rather than pigments, such as the marble berry and the Kaipo kylis beetle. While birds, butterflies, and beetles showcase vibrant colors from structural color, mammals generally lack this vividness due to limited pigment production and color vision, with eritoviruses causing unique structural color changes in certain species.
Insights
- Structural coloration, not pigments, is responsible for the intense hues seen in various living organisms like the marble berry and Kaipo kylis beetle, achieved through unique structural arrangements that manipulate light reflection.
- Mammals' subdued coloration compared to birds and insects is attributed to limited pigment production, color vision, and evolutionary adaptations possibly linked to their nocturnal lifestyles during the Mesozoic era, showcasing a distinct coloration mechanism among different species.
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Recent questions
How do animals achieve vibrant colors?
Through structural coloration, not pigments.
Why do mammals lack vivid colors?
Limited pigment production and color vision.
What causes the intense blue color in roly-polies?
Eritoviruses and structural coloration.
How do eritoviruses affect animal populations?
Significant ecological effects, including population declines.
How do reindeer adapt to low light conditions?
Seasonal changes in tapitum lucidum color.
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Summary
00:00
Vibrant Colors in Nature: Structural vs Pigments
- Plants and animals exhibit a wide range of colors, with some species being intensely colored.
- The most intensely colored living things achieve their vibrant hues through structural coloration, not pigments.
- The marble berry, an African plant's fruit, boasts intense blue coloration due to unique structures in its outer layers.
- The Southeast Asian Kaipo kylis beetle's scales reflect over 70% of light, creating an almost blinding whiteness.
- Birds of paradise feathers achieve the blackest black by reflecting only 0.05-0.31% of light, enhancing their colorful plumage.
- Mammals generally lack the vivid colors seen in birds, beetles, and fish due to limited pigment production and color vision.
- Most mammals can only produce melanin, limiting their color range, unlike birds and butterflies with structural coloration.
- Mammals' subdued coloration is attributed to their dichromatic vision, lacking the ability to discern various colors like trichromatic primates.
- The evolutionary history of mammals, possibly adapting to nocturnal lifestyles during the Mesozoic era, influenced their color vision and UV protection genes.
- The vivid blue coloration in roly-polies is caused by eritoviruses, showcasing structural coloration rather than pigments, with the virus often proving lethal.
13:25
"Structural Color and Eritoviruses in Nature"
- Structural color is determined by the arrangement of crests and troughs of light waves, affecting the perceived color; for example, layers separated by specific distances can reflect red light, creating a tint.
- Structural color is found in various species like butterflies, birds, and beetles, as well as animals tinted by iridoviruses, where the viruses' arrangement influences the color seen.
- Eritoviruses cause characteristic color changes in animals, with some infections being covert, leading to color changes in some individuals of the same species, while others remain unaffected.
- Eritoviruses may use color to aid in spreading among hosts, with bright colors potentially attracting predators that can carry the infection elsewhere.
- Patent infections by eritoviruses are typically lethal but not pandemic, affecting small percentages of species, while covert infections are more common and less lethal, impacting movement or reproduction.
- Eritoviruses have significant ecological effects, causing population declines in various species like tiger salamanders and bass, and potentially contributing to colony collapse disorder in bees.
- Reindeer in arctic regions change the color of their tapitum lucidum seasonally, adapting to long periods of darkness by altering the reflection of light in their eyes, enhancing their vision in low light conditions.
- Siamese cats' distinctive coloration is temperature-dependent due to a mutated gene affecting the enzyme tyrosinase, which unfolds at average body temperature, resulting in the characteristic color pattern in their extremities.
