ELi5: How do scientists interpret what some animals see

Question

You get taught that animals see different colors. I was reading a book about animal senses and I thought how do we know what some animals see?

In: Biology

Answer 1

When we dissect their eyes, we see similarities to our own eyes. We have structures called rods that are sensitive to low-light and peripheral vision and cones that are sensitive to colors. Humans have 3 cones (Red, Green, and Blue light sensitivity). Dogs have 2 cones. Blue and Yellow light sensitivities. So they don’t see reds and the greens are yellow-y, not having a specific green cone.