Yes, snakes can see colours, we know they have various rods and cones in their eyes that enable them to see all the way down into the ultraviolet spectrum, blues, greens, yellows although their red vision is probably not as developed (depending on species).


They also see lux so apart from the colours would be perfectly able to see the light itself.


It would probably be a combination of light and movement they were watching.

 

It would probably be a combination of light and movement they were watching.

That, and the white suit.







Sorry Mally, poor John Travolta joke. :2thumb:

 

I think that where some species are concerned (boa's and pythons for example) which are more active at night, their vision would be tunes to seeing well in low light levels, and that probably includes colours which are shifted to the blue end of the spectrum as Thrasops suggests.

 

Try feeding them wearing this

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I would expect them (at least boas and pythons) to be able to see at least some red, considering that they can see infrared with their facial pits. Infrared beeing right next to the humanly visible red spectrum in light

 

Pythons don't actually see red light all that well (at least, not with their eyes, they can certainly detect infrared via their labial pits but that is not the same thing as picking them up with rod cells in the eye); their vision goes from around 360nm (ultraviolet) to 551nm (still firmly in the blue-green spectrum). And the cones that register this outnumber rods by about 50:1. (Snake rods are thought to be modified cones, I'd be surprised if they have the same functions as some other vertebrates, so there is that too). So while they may have some sensitivity to red in the visible spectrum, it is not great.

They will however still see the lux. So although their colour vision might not be good in the red spectrum, they will of course still be aware that it is light (which is where the myth that red lights can be left on in reptile enclosures without harmful effects comes in).

 

I found this on the Natural History's website

The first major study into the genes that control vision in snakes has found that the reptiles match their vision to their lifestyles.

An international team of snake biologists and vision experts studied various aspects of snake sight, including light-sensitive visual pigments, the genes for these pigments and the lenses found in snake eyes.

The researchers found that snakes that hunt during the day have lenses in their eyes that block ultraviolet light, allowing the reptile to see clearly in bright conditions.

Species that hunt at night have the opposite: lenses that allow more UV light in, helping them to see in the dark.

Dr David Gower, an evolutionary biologist at the Museum who led the research, says, 'There are more than 3,500 living species of snakes, with very diverse lifestyles.

'Most modern work on the genetics of vision has been done on mammals, birds and fish. But studying snakes' eyes is important for a more accurate and complete understanding of how vision functions and has evolved in vertebrates more generally.'

Snake eyes
Snakes have diverse sets of rods and cones - the specialised cells in the retina that an animal uses to detect light. Having multiple types of visual pigments inside the cones allows animals to see in colour because these pigments are sensitive to different wavelengths of light.

The team, which included Museum researchers Dr Bruno Simões and Filipa Sampaio, studied the genes involved in producing these visual pigments in 69 species of snake.

They discovered that most snakes have three visual pigments, two of which are in cones. Snakes are therefore likely to be dichromatic in daylight, meaning they see two primary colours compared to the three that humans see.

Most snakes examined in the study are sensitive to UV light, which allows them to see well in low light conditions.

For light to reach the retina and be absorbed by the pigments, it first travels through the lens of the eye. Snakes with UV-sensitive visual pigments therefore have lenses that let UV light though.

In contrast, the research showed that most snakes that rely on very sharp eyesight in the daytime, such as the golden tree snake Chrysopelea ornata and the vine snake Ahaetulla nasuta, have lenses that block UV light.

These species have probably also tuned the pigments in their retina so that they are no longer sensitive to the short-wavelength UV light.

Matching vision to lifestyle
The team discovered that visual pigment genes have changed substantially during snake evolution, including many changes to the wavelengths of light that the pigments are sensitive to.

Snake eyes have adapted to their changing and diverse lifestyles.

The study suggests that the most recent ancestor of all living snakes had UV-sensitive vision.

Dr Gower says, 'The precise nature of the ancestral snake is contentious, but the evidence from vision is consistent with the idea that it was adapted to living in low light conditions on land.'

The findings of the study, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, are published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

The full paper can be read here https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/139038905/Full_text_PDF_final_published_version_.pdf

 

Coachwhips are another species that has very strong UV filters in their spectacles, but again these snakes all live in very high UV environments (Gary Ferguson recorded Coachwhips basking under UV indices as low as 3 and as high as 15 (!) so some blocking would be necessary to prevent too much UV entering the eye and being harmful.

I would doubt this means they don't see UV at all (as all these snakes tend to be active, pursuit oriented sight hunters, or just very visually acute in the case of Ahaetulla).

Coachwhips and presumably some other species are also known to be able to control the blood flow in the capillaries in the spectacle, so they can improve their vision very quickly at their will. Really cool adaptation.