Fascinating stuff…

Now and again I stumble upon an article that changes my world-view.  It could involve something relatively small…it could involve something relatively large in our daily lives.

In this case, it relates to the later.  The link below is to an article by Vinicius Donisete Goulart and can be found on Slate.  The subject is…

Is being color-blind actually an advantage?

The gist of the article is this: In South and Central America a very large number of the monkeys that live in the forests have apparently evolved to be color-blind.  While on the surface this little factoid may seem nothing more than a curious little bit of trivia, one has to step back and consider the implications of this fact.  Or, to put it another way:

Evolution.

At its most basic level, the theory of evolution posits that animals who adapt to their environment are the ones most likely to succeed in it.  Therefore, the fact that these monkeys are color blind posses this question: If over many years and while evolving the monkeys who developed color blindness were the ones who best adapted (and survived) their environment, then is it possible that color blindness is an advantage?

The author notes that seeing the varieties of color around us may put us in a disadvantage: Things can be camouflaged within the vibrant colors around us (many predator species have skin that do this effectively).  In the case of color blind animals, they don’t have to deal with all the “noise” from colors around them and instead can focus on patterns and therefore may find it easier to see -and therefore avoid- a predator hidden in the bush.

Further, it is possible being color-blind allows certain animals an advantage in finding their food!

Even more fascinating is the fact that advantages to being color blind may apply to humans as well.  This paragraph, found within the article itself, provides some interesting examples:

Color blind people don’t have this same overload and are often able to see through the deliberate “noise” of colored camouflage to spot the deeper patterns. During World War II, color blind men were employed to break through camouflaged enemy positions and thereby spot possible targets for bombing. A certain color blindness may also help create patterns as well as spot them: Vincent Van Gogh was able to create amazingly complex colorful patterns yet his palette shows a striking resemblance to defective color vision.

As I said, fascinating, fascinating stuff.