How many colours can animals see?

It depends on how many colour types their eyes have. You have 3. Of the 1,125 animals whose colour vision has been tested, 335 have just 1 and see no colour at all, while the top animals have 13. Find out where your favourite animal sits.

Every tested animal, one square each

1. 13 colour types: 2 animalsLike Keeled witch mantis, Mantis shrimp.
2. 11 colour types: 4 animalsLike Pastel odontodactylid mantis shrimp and more.
3. 10 colour types: 15 animalsLike Peacock mantis shrimp, Ciliated mantis shrimp, Common banded mantis shrimp, Common bluebottle butterfly and more.
4. 9 colour types: 2 animals
5. 8 colour types: 2 animalsLike Monarch butterfly and more.
6. 7 colour types: 7 animalsLike Fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), Flap-necked chameleon, Hawaiian flagtail, Japanese rice fish and more.
7. 6 colour types: 11 animalsLike Panther chameleon, Celebes rainbowfish, Golden mbuna, Guppy and more.
8. 5 colour types: 24 animalsLike Housefly, Asian swallowtail, Blowfly (Calliphora vicina), Barbour's seahorse and more.
9. 4 colour types: 144 animalsLike House sparrow, European starling, Rock pigeon, Tawny owl and more.
10. 3 colour types: 275 animals (you are here)Like Western honey bee, Rhesus macaque, Saltwater crocodile, Mongolian jird and more.
11. 2 colour types: 304 animalsLike Cat, Dog, Horse, Brown rat and more.
12. 1 colour type: 335 animalsLike Bottlenose dolphin, Common octopus, Common cuttlefish, Brownbanded bamboo shark and more.

Each square is one animal. Counted straight from the studies on this site: 1,125 animals in all.

A simulation made from published eye studies. Not what the animal feels.

How many colours can a mantis shrimp see?

The keeled witch mantis has 13 colour types and the peacock mantis shrimp has 10; you have 3. But more colour types does not mean seeing more colours. In tests, mantis shrimp were worse than people at telling two close colours apart.

What does one colour type mean?

An eye with one colour type sees light and dark but no colour at all, like an old black-and-white photo.

Do more colour types mean better colour vision?

Not always. Each extra type can add colours you cannot picture, but how the brain uses them matters too. That is why the mantis shrimp is the famous exception.

More to play

• Could T. rex see you if you stood still?
• How far can an eagle see?
• Type a message, see it as a goldfish
• Animal eye chart
• Rank it: who has the best eyes?
• Guess the Eye, the daily game

The science behind it: what colour types can and cannot tell you