Skip to content

See Like Animals Open the tool

Sea mammal eyes: a world without colour

9 animals on this site have this kind of eyes, including the bottlenose dolphin, the California sea lion and the harbour seal. The bottlenose dolphin: sees no colour at all, only light and dark. Pick one and try its eyes on your photo.

Red tulips under a blue sky, as you see them.

Red tulips under a blue sky as a bottlenose dolphin sees them (simulation): with no hue at all: petals, stems and sky differ only in brightness, and fine detail softened.

Try it on your photo

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

The same photo through their eyes

The same tulips as a bottlenose dolphin sees them.

Bottlenose dolphinsees no colour at all

The same tulips as a harbour seal sees them.

Harbour sealsees no colour at all

Play today's Guess the Eye: can you tell these eyes apart?

Animals with these eyes

The science behind it