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Photopigment basis for dichromatic color vision in cows, goats, and sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 1998

GERALD H. JACOBS
Affiliation:
Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara
JESS F. DEEGAN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, California State University, Bakersfield
JAY NEITZ
Affiliation:
Department of Cellular Biology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Abstract

Electroretinogram (ERG) flicker photometry was used to measure the spectral properties of cones in three common ungulates—cattle (Bos taurus), goats (Capra hircus), and sheep (Ovis aries). Two cone mechanisms were identified in each species. The location of peak sensitivity of an S-cone mechanism varied from about 444 to 455 nm for the three species; analogous values for an M/L-cone were tightly clumped at about 552–555 nm. Each of these three species has the requisite photopigment basis for dichromatic color vision and they are, thus, similar to other ungulates examined earlier.

Type
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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