History Main / AnimalsSeeInMonochrome

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': When Donkey is [[SnipeHunt told by Fiona to retrieve a blue flower with red thorns to help Shrek]], he stumbles upon bushes full of said flowers and mutters that his job would be much easier if he wasn't colorblind. Earlier in the film, he calls Shrek a "mean, green fighting machine." (Equines can't see red, but can see green well enough.)

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', Carl and Russel are playing a game of spotting two different colored cars, and Dug joins in by saying "gray one".

* Commercials for the Sega UsefulNotes/GameGear [[TakeThat mocked the]] UsefulNotes/GameBoy's monochromatic screen by having a dog stare at the two handhelds, with the announcer saying "If you were colorblind and had an IQ of less than 12, then you wouldn't care which portable you had. Of course, you wouldn't care if you drank from the toilet, either." Views from the dog's eyes are shown in black and white.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

It's a common misconception that animals, especially dogs and cats, see in only black and white. This is based on very old and outdated research. ScienceMarchesOn, with more modern research indicating that different species see differently and some animals can even see colours that humans can't. Domestic dogs, for example, aren't completely colorblind but they see colours less clearly than humans. Dogs don't differentiate orange and yellow well, but they can tell various shades of blue and green.[[note]]Dogs are dichromatic, while humans are trichromatic. That is, dogs only have two types of cones (blue, yellow), while humans have three (red, blue, green). So, while dogs don't see only in black and white, they are sort of red-green colorblind. "Sort of" because yellow is a combination of red and green light. Meanwhile, cats are also trichromatic, but the three wavelengths they are sensitive to can't combine into the full range of human color vision.[[/note]]

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Inverted in "The Paris Trip," where Bolt, Mittens, and Berlioz are depicted as having a realistic amount of color vision for their species, more limited than humans but not fully color-blind. Mittens and Berlioz, for example, are able to see the blue stained glass at Sainte-Chapelle.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] and referenced in [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=2052 this]] ''Webcomic/SquareRootOfMinusGarfield'' strip, which recolors [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1993/ga931010.gif this strip]] as a dog would ''realistically'' see it. The author points out that most people would fall for the "black and white" mistake.

It's a common misconception that animals, especially dogs and cats, see in only black and white. This is based on very old and outdated research. ScienceMarchesOn, with more modern research indicating that different species see differently and some animals can even see colours that humans can't. Domestic dogs, for example, aren't completely colorblind but they see colours less clearly than humans. Dogs don't differentiate orange and yellow well, but they can tell various shades of blue and green.[[note]]Dogs are dichromatic, while humans are trichromatic. That is, dogs only have two types of cones (blue, yellow), while humans have three (red, blue, green). So, while dogs don't see only in black and white, they are sort of red-green colorblind. "Sort of" because yellow is a combination of red and green light.[[/note]]

* In several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' we get to see the world through the eyes of the family dog Santa's Little Helper. These POV shots are shown in [[https://youtu.be/lWbfV-vYotc?t=30 black]] and [[https://youtu.be/SupQ7ORFv_I?t=77 white]].

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4coo78gKTY this]] ''Advertising/MAndMs'' commercial, Yellow finds a bloodhound to hunt down the Grey Impostor. But since dogs only see black & white, the dog mistakes Red for the imposter and swallows him. This is somewhat accurate because even though dogs can see color, They can't see red.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Inverted in "The Paris Trip," where Bolt, Mittens, and Berlioz are depicted as having a realistic amount of color vision for their species, more limited than humans but not fully color blind. Mittens and Berlioz, for example, are able to see the blue stained glass at Sainte-Chapelle.

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': When Donkey is [[SnipeHunt told by Fiona to retrieve a blue flower with red thorns to help Shrek]], he stumbles upon bushes full of said flowers and mutters that his job would be much easier if he wasn't colorblind. Yet earlier in the film, he called Shrek a "mean, green fighting machine." (This is actually accurate: equines can't see red, but can see green well enough.)

* In ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', Charlie and Itchy have a Main/WireDilemma, but since they're dogs and can't see color, they don't know which one to cut. They end up cutting the wrong one...and it turns out to be a water main.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] and referenced in [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=2052 This]] ''Webcomic/SquareRootOfMinusGarfield'' strip, which recolors [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1993/ga931010.gif this strip]] as a dog would ''realistically'' see it. The author points out that most people would fall for the "black and white" mistake.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has a few FurryReminder jokes about Brian (a FunnyAnimal dog) seeing in black-and-white. However, a few episode contradict this as in “The Cleveland-Loretta-Quagmire”, Brian can apparently see people’s skin colors as he can described the person Loretta was having an affair with (Quagmire) as a skinny white guy.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheCrampTwins'' has a few scenes where the viewer sees through the monkeys' eyes and they see in monochrome, though unusually for this trope, they see only in brown instead of gray. While color vision in new-world monkeys (like the ones shown here) isn't as great as that of humans and other old-world monkeys, they can still see shades of blue and green.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4coo78gKTY this]] ''Advertising/MAndMs'' commercial, Yellow finds a bloodhound to hunt down the Grey Impostor. But since dogs only see black & white, the dog mistakes Red for the imposter and swallows him.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': When Donkey is [[SnipeHunt told by Fiona to retrieve a blue flower with red thorns to help Shrek]], he stumbles upon bushes full of said flowers and mutters that his job would be much easier if he wasn't colorblind. Yet earlier in the film, he called Shrek a "mean, green fighting machine." (This is actually accurate: equines can't see red, but can see green well enough.)

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has a few FurryReminder jokes about Brian (a FunnyAnimal dog) seeing in black-and-white.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': When Donkey is [[SnipeHunt told by Fiona to retrieve a blue flower with red thorns to help Shrek]], he stumbles upon bushes full of said flowers and mutters that his job would be much easier if he wasn't colorblind. Yet earlier in the film, he called Shrek a "mean, green fighting machine."

* ''WesternAnimation/DeadEndParanormalPark'': When Barney and Pugsley are trapped in [[TrappedInTVLand a black-and-white TV show]], when Barney asks why everything is in black and white, Pugsley says it looks no different to him.

* It's shown that at least Spearow sees this way in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' (whereas some other species see colors enough to fit BullSeeingRed). If they're anything like their real-life bird counterparts, they should see in full color.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4coo78gKTY this]] ''Advertising/MAndMs'' commerical, Yellow finds a bloodhound to hunt down the Grey Impostor. But since dogs only see black & white, the dog mistakes Red for the imposter and swallows him.

* Downplayed in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs''. The Liese twins, being shapshifting cats, are not outright colorblind, but they are implied to have a much more narrow range of color vision than humans given that [[spoiler:their Nanoha and Fate disguises get the colors of the Barrier Jackets wrong.]]
* It's shown that at least Spearow see this way in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' (whereas some other species see colors enough to fit BullSeeingRed). If they're anything like their real life bird counterparts, they should see in full-color.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': One dog is shown asking God to let him and the rest of his family to see in color in his nightly prayer.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': According to Rachel who morphed a cat early on, cats aren't so much colorblind as they are indifferent: "Oh, that thing's red. Who cares?" Smell and motion are much more important.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fkcu0rrxwaq04tz_1.jpeg]]

-->--'''Stewie Griffin''', ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''