Evolution is throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks (by sticking I mean reproducing bc you have better traits). If every single one of their prey and predators have this color blindness then orange and green would have the same effectiveness and whichever trait comes out first. If a prey/predator evolved to have better color vision then it would quickly become a disadvantage and after millions of years it’s possible they evolve to have green fur.
There could be other benefits like being easier to attract mates.
Also some animals can see infrared, so even if their fur was perfect for the environment they could still have issues by being spotted, in which case the color doesn’t matter as much and the colors for mating becomes more important.
I realized I couldn’t think of a single green mammal so I DDG’d it and it’s true. In a nutshell, the pigments that give mammals their colors are limited to warm colors (so no blue or green) and you could also fake a green color by reflecting mostly just green light off you (it’s how birds do it) but it seems to be something only feathers and scales are good at, not fur.
Yeah the only one I can think of are sloths, which is kinda cheating cuz their green color comes from algae in their fur instead of natural pigmentation lol
Glad to have it confirmed tho, thanks!
Evolution is throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks (by sticking I mean reproducing bc you have better traits). If every single one of their prey and predators have this color blindness then orange and green would have the same effectiveness and whichever trait comes out first. If a prey/predator evolved to have better color vision then it would quickly become a disadvantage and after millions of years it’s possible they evolve to have green fur.
There could be other benefits like being easier to attract mates.
Also some animals can see infrared, so even if their fur was perfect for the environment they could still have issues by being spotted, in which case the color doesn’t matter as much and the colors for mating becomes more important.
Edit: Wording.
As a biologist, I’m always so happy with how versed your average Lemming is on evolution versus the bad place.
I’m not exactly average, but I’m definitely not a biologist lol
I’ve also heard green coloring is hard to achieve for mammals, but iirc the source was some tumblr post so take that with a grain of salt.
I realized I couldn’t think of a single green mammal so I DDG’d it and it’s true. In a nutshell, the pigments that give mammals their colors are limited to warm colors (so no blue or green) and you could also fake a green color by reflecting mostly just green light off you (it’s how birds do it) but it seems to be something only feathers and scales are good at, not fur.
Yeah the only one I can think of are sloths, which is kinda cheating cuz their green color comes from algae in their fur instead of natural pigmentation lol
Glad to have it confirmed tho, thanks!