Can chinchillas see color?

monarch · Dec 13, 2010

I know this may not be able to be completely proven, but I've heard vague references of dogs not really be able to distinguish colors... Can chins? The reason I ask if I often see chew toys that can be purchased in your choice of natural wood, or colored in pretty rainbow style. Can the chinchillas tell the difference? Would they prefer color? Does it even matter?

vs

GorillaJTA · Dec 13, 2010

Dogs are not color-blind, but color-limited. They have 2 types of cones (photoreceptors that pick up color) while humans have 3, so they do not have the breadth of color perception that we have.
That being said...
Chinchillas are crepuscular animals and while I have not found any definitive studies (please correct me if I am wrong), most crepuscular animals do not have much, if any, color vision, as cones do not do well in low light. Most rodents are mostly color-blind with very few cones and pretty poor color determination abilities.

momenteller · Dec 13, 2010

I don't know anything about whether they prefer color or not, but I do know my girls prefer bark on their wood!

Silverrose · Dec 13, 2010

There is an article all about the chinchilla eye here:
http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2953

But basically, a chinchilla eye consists only of rods. Rods are only able to distinguish between light and dark, so they they see the world in shades of gray.

monarch · Dec 13, 2010

momenteller said:
I don't know anything about whether they prefer color or not, but I do know my girls prefer bark on their wood!

That's what I thought! My chin devours apple wood, but only the bark! After he gets done with the bark he completely ignores the wood, lol. I've been weary of getting any of those wood toys that I see on every chin website because I really doubt he'd find any interest in it!

Silverrose said:
There is an article all about the chinchilla eye here:
http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2953

But basically, a chinchilla eye consists only of rods. Rods are only able to distinguish between light and dark, so they they see the world in shades of gray.

Love it! That totally answers my question!

I assume most people get the colorful toys to mostly brighten up their cage?

greychins · Dec 13, 2010

monarch said:
I assume most people get the colorful toys to mostly brighten up their cage?

Lol, that's why I get them. The chins may not see the pretty blues and greens and reds, but I can! Haha. It might actually be better that my chins can't see color, cause they might start ripping on me for not being able to color-coordinate anything! Their cages have toys and hammocks and everything and nothing matches (except in my mom's chin cage cause she's anal about that kind of thing).

Tennyson · Dec 13, 2010

My vacuum always hates those half-eaten sticks I find after they are done with the bark >.< and poor chins, so much of the world they are missing out on-but don't get me started on whether humans and what we can perceive as far as color-I get way too theoretical and hypothetical considering whether what I see as "red" is really red, or simply what I have been trained to call red... Guess I just started myself lol

Pikaia · Dec 13, 2010

Tennyson said:
My vacuum always hates those half-eaten sticks I find after they are done with the bark >.< and poor chins, so much of the world they are missing out on-but don't get me started on whether humans and what we can perceive as far as color-I get way too theoretical and hypothetical considering whether what I see as "red" is really red, or simply what I have been trained to call red... Guess I just started myself lol

My boyfriend and I talk about that quite often. Kinda gets your head spinning. Your "red" and my "red" might not be the same. Your "red" might be my "green" LOL..... crazy stuff there.

BlueberryCrumpet · Dec 22, 2010

Now I'm sure that its all in my head, but I'm pretty sure my chinchilla's favorite color is pink. I mean the room she lives in has pink walls and pink everything, her bedding is pink, and her toys are pink. this one time i had crayons out and i was letting her run around, and she went straight for the pink crayon. just sayin' XD

CrazyForChinchillas · Dec 22, 2010

I've always wondered that too. I guess I have my answer now. Thanks!

And the colors are nice for us anyway.

liewwan · Aug 29, 2011

Ha I was just about to ask this question before I did a search prior to a post. I'm glad I'm not the only one who wonders if chins are color blind. I just find it pretty odd they attack anything that is blue or green first. I have other color toys in there and they seem to not be interested as much.

ChinnyMom · Aug 29, 2011

quite often the coloured wood pieces are also flavoured, so maybe it is a certain flavour the chins are going for instead of the colour?

liewwan · Aug 30, 2011

Good point. I should just try it with plain kd pine and color it to see if they will go after those by color hehehe.

Can chinchillas see color?

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