Why aren't there more blue animals?

[Catherine]

This is a cute little science video and it is worth watching. Think about it, very few things are blue. Now there is an explanation.

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&ur...MZNqMPaftw

There are not a lot of blue flowers either. Now I am going to wonder why not.

[Tobi]

Oh dear....blue is my favourite colour! I often wondered why there weren't more blue things in the world. This is interesting.
I secretly admire blue hair.....   Especially with streaks of paler colours in it, or mauve. But haven't got the guts to dye mine that colour!

Dogs however, are supposed to see better at the blue/violet end of the spectrum. They may see many things more blue than we do.

[Catherine]

Blue is an uncommon colour. There are few blue foods either. 
So you have chosen the rarest colour as your favourite.
I like green, but that is a whole set of colours so I prefer yellow greens and blue greens, but not so much true green.

Do the blue hair. It would be fun and amazing. They have dyes that wash off and it will just become a lighter shade over time.
You could just do some streaks of blue. If my hockey team wins the Stanley Cup or at least gets into the final games, I am going to get streaks of the team blue put in my hair. They haven't won in 50 years so I am probably safe. 

I can't do my hair green because it fades to a nasty colour. I did ask. 

Dogs see things more blue. Interesting. I wonder how that difference changes life for them. They would never have hunted blue food. There are so few blue things.  There must be some benefit.

[Tobi]

I don't know if it's that dogs see more blue things....as much as it's that they see things as more blue (than we do.) Apparently, they see grass for instance in more of a blue-y shade than green.

Yes I suppose I could try one of those wash-out dyes. If it ended up not suiting me, it would wash out. I have quite a bit of blonde in my hair and some brown, mixed with some grey, so the blue would end up various shades anyway. I dyed it blue-black once, but that did not suit me at all.

Periwinkle flowers are such a beautiful deep cobalt blue, as are forget-me-nots (more turquoise.) They all grow where I live.
Cornflowers are so lovely too.
But those are "pigments" which cause the colour I think, and not "structures", as in the video.

[Catherine]

Periwinkle flowers are such a beautiful deep cobalt blue, as are forget-me-nots (more turquoise.) They all grow where I live.
Cornflowers are so lovely too.
But those are "pigments" which cause the colour I think, and not "structures", as in the video.

I think you are right. Blue flowers are actual blue pigments.  There are blue stones. I think there are a number of them in different shades of blue.

Blue is just not a common colour in nature, except for the sky. That makes up for it. That is a lot of blue.

If dogs see colours differently, I wonder what other animals actually see.  
It is odd that blue is caused by structures when other colours are caused by pigments.

You could get a temporary  blue dye in a subtle shade. You wouldn't want it to be too dark.  Blue black is very intense. You wouldn't have the colouring for it. A soft smoky blue would look interesting. It would wash out to a gentle shade.

My hair is purple and burgundy. The purple matches a dress, literally, I took the dress to the hairdresser and said match this colour. The burgundy matches half of what I wear. I figure once you hair starts turning white you can do anything you want. Once my hair is snow white I can really do anything I want. Olive green would match my eyes, but I understand it washes out to a less attractive shade.

Good thing none of my pets cares about colour. They all go by my voice and scent.