# Are hedgies color blind?



## ILuvHedgies (Jan 7, 2012)

Are hedgies color blind? If they are, then are they completely color blind or are there colors they can see and colors they can't see? What colors can they see?


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## Christemo (Oct 5, 2011)

I know that they have really bad vision, so I would think that they are color blind.


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## MGSpikers (Oct 21, 2008)

Although hedgehogs have relatively poor vision (I suppose because they live so close to the ground in the wild), they do have limited color vision. Experiments were conducted at the Berlin Zoo in the 1930s by Konrad Herter using colored doors leading to corridors and food sources. The results were publioshed in his book "die Europaeischen Igel" in 1938 (in German) and a condensed verson published in English in 1965. The studies were also cited by Nigel Reeve in his 1994 textbook "Hedgehogs."


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## Hedgehog lover01 (Jan 10, 2012)

The only colors thay can see is some blues and yellow


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## NoDivision (Aug 29, 2010)

Hedgehog lover01 said:


> The only colors thay can see is some blues and yellow


And what is your source for this?


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## JustOnePost (Dec 27, 2011)

Hedgehog lover01 said:


> The only colors thay can see is some blues and yellow


To the best of my knowledge there is no scientific/medical findings on what hedgehogs can or cannot see however owners/breeders have reported strange or adverse reactions to certain colors such as red, white, green, pink that I am aware.


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## MGSpikers (Oct 21, 2008)

Virtually all of the hedgehog vision studies eminate from the Conrad Herter studies at the Berlin Zoo in the 1930s. A condensed version of his original research was published in English in 1965, which is the source picked up by Nigel Reeve in his textbook published in 1994. It is there that the yellow and blue assertions were reported. However, the original and much more detailed Herter text in German (Die Biologie der Europaeischen Igel, Verlag Dr. Paul Schoeps, Leipzig, 1938) does imply a wider sense of color perception, although not as strongly "proven" as the yellow and blue reports.


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## ILuvHedgies (Jan 7, 2012)

Thank you to all those who replied!


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