A splash of orange on your outdoors gear helps make them more visible.
THE colour orange holds a special place in the great outdoors. It is instantly visible and downright conspicuous.
A splash of orange on your gear helps you keep track of items left on the ground. Similarly, wearing orange makes it easier for your companions to spot you if you stray too far from your team.
There’s a specific reason orange is preferred over other high-visibility colours like lime green or bright pink and it relates to how humans and animals perceive colour.
In the retinas of most creatures are rod and cone cells. Rod cells differentiate between light and dark while cone cells process light into colours.
Among mammals, only humans and primates have three types of cone cells, allowing us to perceive red, green, blue and all their shades and mixes.
Almost every other mammal has only two types of cone cells, limiting their vision to hues of green and blue.
To dogs, cats, deer, wild boar, squirrels, goats, cows and horses, anything orange appears greenish.
A dusky leaf monkey holding her bright orange baby.
This is why tigers, with their orange and black stripes, effectively camouflage themselves in green-and-black as far as their principal prey – boars and deer – are concerned in Malaysian tropical jungles.
Similarly, the babies of dusky leaf monkeys have bright orange fur.
Dusky leaf monkey mothers can easily spot their babies. But to predators, these infants appear a drab green.
Baby wild boars, typically a dull orange with horizontal black stripes, also use this colour trick to become invisible to predators while humans can see their orange hues clearly.
Having orange in your gear and clothing increases visibility without alerting wildlife.
Hunters often wear “blaze orange camo,” knowing their quarry (deer, boar, mountain goats, et cetera) cannot see orange. This allows hunters to see each other and avoid accidental shootings.
However, there are exceptions.
Anglers fishing by the water’s edge must wear drab camouflage garments as fish in the shallows can see colour. (Look for the outline of a light brown cap to spot the angler.)
Bird watchers and photographers must cloak themselves in drab colours because almost all birds see more colours than humans.
Birds have four types of cone cells, compared to the three in humans, giving them the ability to see ultraviolet light.
Thus, bird watchers dress in dull hues of browns and greens to avoid alarming the birds.
Anglers face a colour problem, too.
The colour vision of fish varies. Walking to the edge of a pond or river in a bright yellow shirt might spook the fish.
Some fish, like goldfish, see colours as well as birds, while sea fish see blues and greens, with blaze orange appearing as deep green.
Therefore, anglers fishing from the water’s edge should camouflage themselves in greens and browns.
If you are a hiker or a camper, some orange is really a blessing because this colour is vital to helping you to see not just each other but also where your things are.
