Hummingbirds' rainbow colors come from pancake-shaped structures in their feathers. ScienceDaily . Retrieved June 2, 2025 from www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2020 / 01 / 200110110909.htm ...

Hummingbirds are some of the most brightly-colored things in the entire world. Their iridescent feathers reflect light in a way that other birds can't match, and scientists weren't sure what made ...

But even on a less hair-splitting level, purple is missing from that rainbow. The “V” in “ROYGBIV” stands for violet , sure, but that’s not actually the same thing as purple.

Hummingbirds see purple plus ultraviolet—and lots of other nonspectral colors. Skip to main content. ... But even on a less hair-splitting level, purple is missing from that rainbow. ARS TECHNICA.

Hummingbirds are also able to see colors that humans can't — and that gives them an edge when it comes to foraging, ... (such as from a rainbow) can evoke this simultaneous stimulation.

The authors conclude that hummingbirds have a rainbow of colours because of the many tweaks to each of these feather characteristics over evolutionary time. Nature 577 , 452 (2020) doi: https ...

Hummingbirds can see colors humans can only imagine, an ability that now sheds light on an extra dimension of animal vision, a new study finds. Compared to many other animals , humans are colorblind.