"Red" gene in parrots goes back to dinos!

[Pajarita]

I know I posted about this before but, unless I go through all my previous postings, I won't be able to find it so I am starting a new thread about it. In any case, this article talks, again, about the ability of birds to see in color and how they can see many more shades than we do thanks to the little 'filter' oil droplets they have in their photoreceptors (cells that allow vision) as well as the ability to produce the color red - but the most interesting thing about it is that they have now found out the trait was inherited from their dinosaur ancestors which developed it 250 million years ago. How cool is that, eh?!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... years.html

PS Just one more thing, the oil droplets are not only for the color red, there are clear, pale yellow, green and orange (birds have five while mammals have only three), as well, and each color filters something different - like, for example, marine birds which feed on fish use the red droplets to diffuse the glare of the blue that bounces back from the sea allowing them to see objects that either float or are just under the surface of the water - and aerial feeders -birds that catch their prey in flight, like a hawk, for example, use it to diffuse the blue of the sky.

[galeriagila]

That is just so cool!!!!
I wonder what special adaptations ya need in Patagonia? And what do I look like to the Rb?

[Wolf]

Probably not quite the same but turn your black light on and put the Rickeybird on your shoulder and stand in front of the mirror.

[galeriagila]

I don't have a black light, but I will soon!
Thanks, Wolf!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pajarita]

That is just so cool!!!!
I wonder what special adaptations ya need in Patagonia? And what do I look like to the Rb?

You look like his beloved to him. That's the way we all look to our birds.

[galeriagila]

Thank you, Pajarita... you kinda choked me up there.