Recording animal-view videos of the natural world using a novel camera system and software package

Abstract

Plants, animals, and fungi display a rich tapestry of colors. Animals, in particular, use colors in dynamic displays performed in spatially complex environments. Although current approaches for studying colors are objective and repeatable, they miss the temporal variation of color signals entirely. Here, we introduce hardware and software that provide ecologists and filmmakers the ability to accurately record animal-perceived colors in motion. Specifically, our Python codes transform photos or videos into perceivable units (quantum catches) for animals of known photoreceptor sensitivity. The plans and codes necessary for end-users to capture animal-view videos are all open source and publicly available to encourage continual community development. The camera system and the associated software package will allow ecologists to investigate how animals use colors in dynamic behavioral displays, the ways natural illumination alters perceived colors, and other questions that remained unaddressed until now due to a lack of suitable tools. Finally, it provides scientists and filmmakers with a new, empirically grounded approach for depicting the perceptual worlds of nonhuman animals.

Through an animal’s eye: the implications of diverse sensory systems in scientific experimentation

“…This effect will, however, depend on whether the drops are presented on an ultraviolet-reflective (left) or ultraviolet-absorbent (right) background. The false-coloured image of bee vision was made using Vasas et al [17]. The animal's ultraviolet, blue, and green colour channels are shown as red, blue and green, respectively.…”

“…The false-coloured image of bee vision was made using Vasas et al . [ 17 ]. The animal’s ultraviolet, blue, and green colour channels are shown as red, blue and green, respectively.…”

“…The animal’s ultraviolet, blue, and green colour channels are shown as red, blue and green, respectively. Pictures were taken in an indoor laboratory setting, under a broadband light whose emission spectrum included ultraviolet (for details, see [ 17 ]). A gamma correction of 0.5 was applied to the images.…”

“…Colours appear very differently to humans (a) than to bees (b), birds (c) or mice (d).Note that there is no direct correspondence between human-and animal-perceived colours. The false-coloured images were made using Vasas et al[17]. For the bees, the red, green and blue channels of the image correspond to the ultraviolet, green and blue photoreceptor responses, respectively; for birds, the red, green and blue channels correspond to the red, green, and the mean of the ultraviolet and blue photoreceptor responses, respectively; for mice, the red, green and blue channels correspond to the mean of the ultraviolet and green, green and ultraviolet photoreceptor responses, respectively.…”