Purple, green, orange, red. animals have a lot of beautiful and different colors. These colors are important to them. Some animals use the colors to make their enemies (敌人) afraid. And sometimes their enemies can not see them clearly because their colors are like some other things. Other animals use the colors to find partners. But how do animals have their colors?
Food gives them colors
Some animals get pigments (色素) from their food. For example, flamingos eat a lot of shrimp or algae. These things have a red-orange pigment. The pigment gives flamingos a pink color. The more they eat, the pinker they get.
Body gives them colors
Animals' body parts, like feathers, scales (鳞片), hair and skin, have special structures. They reflect (反射) light to make animals colorful. This is called structural colors. For example, blue morpho butterflies (蓝闪蝶) have beautiful scales on their wings. This gives them a bright blue color.
Did you know?
Structural colors don't fade (褪色). People use the idea to make special clothes and paints.