((This is an experimental picture of a style I'm trying out. It combines clean lineart with volumous shading))

Today is Dragon Field Day. Yep! Dragon Field Day. What is Dragon Field Day, you may ask? Well, it’s a day where dragons from all around the world come together to lounge around in a big, sunny field and discuss how awesome we are. Some of us even give presentations on the topic. While I have always loved flying in to see Dragon Field Day, I’ve been particularly excited about this one. This is because for the very first time, I’m a presenter!



I have my poster all prepared and everything. It took me weeks of gathering ingredients for the dyes I needed just to make this beautiful poster. I’m so proud of it. The rainbow spectrum was particularly challenging to make, as I had to travel around to several different types of biomes just to gather the necessary ingredients to get such a rich spectrum of colors on the canvas.



For my presentation on why us dragons are great, I will be presenting on color. More specifically, on a little-known, color-related reason why us dragons are simply the best.



You see, dragons are tetrachromats. What is a tetrachromat, you may ask? Well, first, let me explain a bit about what color is and how we all perceive it.



Light is composed of a mixture of different wavelengths. Light receptors in our eyes decode the light that enters our eyes into messages that tell our big beefy dragon brains what colors we’re seeing. We have four different types of light receptors in our eyes, commonly referred to as “cones”. Each type of receptor, or cone, responds to different wavelengths of light differently. Some types are stimulated more by certain wavelengths, whereas others may respond more strongly to other light wavelengths. The combined response of our four different types of cones will be sent to our brains and then interpreted as the sensation that is color.



Objects, however, are not truly any one particular color all the time. You can witness this by noticing objects during sunset appear a different color than they do during the middle of the day.



This is because color is simply our perception of the concoction of light entering our eye. Everything in the world around us reflects certain wavelengths of light and absorbs others. Even the great sky above our heads does this. If the light shining on an object contains a different mix of wavelengths, the reflected light off objects in the world will also change its mixture of wavelengths. We perceive this as a different color, and thus this is why things look so different during different times of the day.



What does all this have to do with being a tetrachromat? Well, we have four different types of receptors in our eyes that specialize in picking up four different clusters of light wavelengths, or colors. These are Red, Cyan, Indigo, and Ultraviolet. Each of these receptors responds in a unique way to what our eyes see, allowing us to see a tremendous array of unique colors. In fact, we can see over one hundred million different colors!



So how does this translate into showing how awesome dragons are? Well, while we may take this beautiful array of colors we see in our world for granted, not all creatures are as well-endowed. In fact, our color vision is significantly different from all the mammal bipeds. Mammal bipeds only have three different types of receptors in their eyes. They cannot sense any ultraviolet colors at all. Additionally, while we see Red, Cyan, Indigo, and Ultraviolet, they have cells specializing in sensing Red, Green, and Blue.



Why does this matter? Well, it so turns out that two of the biped’s color receptors are clustered up near one-another. Their Red and Green receptors, specifically, are specialized to be stimulated by wavelengths of similar lengths. We, however, have nicely spaced color receptors that are just superior at detecting color uniformly across the entire spectrum. Bipeds have a hard time differentiating between different shades of blue and purple, whereas we excel due to our optimal sensor spacing on the spectrum.



Also note the total absence of reception in the ultraviolet spectrum when it comes to bipeds. They simply cannot see any ultraviolet colors at all, and any object that reflects ultraviolet light will be indistinguishable to them from objects that do not. Did you know they can’t see the beautiful patterns on my wings?



Additionally, for any of you that may be wondering, yes drakes, wyverns and other dracanids are tetrachromats as well. Any animal stemming from reptilia, which includes modern birds, squamates, and the clade dracanoidea, has a good chance of being a tetrachromat. There are some exceptions, however, as generally nocturnal beings lose color perception in favor of superior night vision.



So there you have it. Our eyes, dragon eyes, are simply the best eyes out there. We are true tetrachromats, and on top of that our visual acuity is unrivaled in the animal kingdom. To see the world through the eyes of a dragon is truly a great luxury indeed. Next time you gaze across a landscape or a brilliant field of flowers, make sure to remember our vision is simply the best!