Evolution of colour vision

The evolution of color vision causes light to be seen according to its wavelength. This has obvious advantages, especially it helps animals find food.

The color vision of many herbivores allows them to see fruit or (immature) leaves which are good to eat. In hummingbirds, particular flowers are often recognized by color. Predators also use color vision to help them find their prey.

All this applies mainly to animals in the daytime. On the other hand, nocturnal mammals have much less-developed color vision. For them, space on the retina is better used with more rods since rods collect light better. Color differences are much less visible in the dark.