| MadSci Network: Zoology |
Dear Danielle, Dear Lizz: Thank you for your question. As with most good questions, yours is not easily answered. The reason for this is that there are literally hundreds of rodent species on our earth and we have no knowledge about most of them. Sorry, I can not give you a detailed answer for beavers, capybaras, chichillas, chipmunks, gerbils, lemmings, marmots, muskrats, porcupines, prairie dogs, ... For all of them, one general rule: species that are night active normally have no color vision. The more they are active during daylight, the better they can see colors. About some few species, that are often kept as pets we do know a little more: Rat: color blind Rabbit: color blind Hamster: color blind (House)Mouse: can see yellow and red Guinea pig: can see red, yellow, green and blue Squirrel: can see colors If they can see colors, that still does not mean that their color impression is identical to that of humans. This is related to the types and numbers of visual pigments in the sensory cells in their eyes. They can have two (squirrel) different pigments, or three (like humans). I hope that helps.
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