The other day in class I was discussing colour vision and the fact that only primates among mammals are trichromats. I mentioned the theory that this conferred an evolutionary advantage in spotting tropical fruit (red) among the leaves (green).
A student asked whether fruit-eating bats therefore also had trichromatic vision. Good question. I said I thought not, because they were nocturnal, weren't they? According to an on-line review of the book _Bats_ by Phil Richardson, I'm wrong. It says "Megabats eat mainly tropical fruit; both their keen sense of smell and their color vision enable then to detect one fruiting tree among thousands". But what this doesn't tell me is whether they're trichromats, which is what the theory would predict. Further web-searching didn't help. Anyone know? Stephen ______________________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips _________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
