The accuracy of natural animal perspective videos recorded by open source cameras and software systems exceeds 90%.On January 23, Vera Vasas of the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and colleagues at the Hanley Color Laboratory at George Mason University in the United States reported in the open-access journal PLOS Biology that a new camera system allows ecologists and filmmakers to create videos that accurately replicate the colors that different animals see in their natural environments.
Learn about animal perception
Different animals perceive the world differently due to the different functions of the photoreceptors in their eyes. For example, animals such as bees and some birds can see ultraviolet light, which is beyond the range of human perception. Reconstructing the colors animals actually see could help scientists better understand how they communicate and navigate the world around them. False color images offer a glimpse into this dynamic world, but traditional methods such as spectrophotometry are often time-consuming, require specific lighting conditions, and fail to capture moving images.
Breakthrough in animal perspective imaging technology
To address these limitations, researchers developed a new camera and software system that captures animal-view videos of moving objects in natural light conditions. The camera records video simultaneously in four color channels: blue, green, red and ultraviolet. This data can be processed into "perceptual units" to produce precise videos of how animals perceive these colors, based on existing knowledge of the animal's eye photoreceptors. The team tested the system against traditional methods using spectrophotometry and found that the new system predicted perceived color with more than 92% accuracy.
Impact and ease of use of new system
The authors say this novel camera system will open up new avenues of research for scientists and enable filmmakers to produce dynamic, accurate depictions of animals observing the world around them. The system is built from commercially available cameras, housed in a modular 3D-printed housing, and the software is open source, allowing other researchers to use and build on the technology in the future.
Daniel Hanley, senior author of the study, added: "We have long been fascinated by how animals see the world. Modern techniques in sensory ecology allow us to infer what static scenes look like to animals; however, animals often make crucial decisions about moving targets such as detecting food, evaluating the performance of potential mates, etc. Here, we introduce to ecologists and filmmakers hardware and software tools that can capture and display the colors that animals perceive in motion."
Compiled source: ScitechDaily