Savage A, Dronzek L A, Snowdon C T
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Folia Primatol (Basel). 1987;49(2):57-69. doi: 10.1159/000156309.
Old World monkeys and apes have been reported to differ from New World monkeys in their abilities to discriminate colors across the visible spectrum. Old World monkeys and apes (Macaca, Pan, Pongo) discriminate colors quite accurately, while some New World monkeys studied (Saimiri, Cebus) have shown lower sensitivity to and poorer discrimination of long wavelength light. This study examined the color discrimination ability of another New World primate, the cotton-top tamarin, Saguinus oedipus oedipus (family Callitrichidae). The tamarins were trained to discriminate a set of Munsell color chips, both within the same hue category and from the 2 hue categories on either side of the training hue. Results indicated that the cotton-top tamarin can make accurate discriminations across the visible spectrum. Human subjects were tested under similar conditions in order to compare their color discrimination abilities to those of the tamarins. The tamarins and human subjects had the most difficulty discriminating the same hues. The discrimination abilities of the monkeys were assessed in relation to the coloration of fruits eaten in a natural environment. A list of the species of fruits commonly eaten by various species of New World monkeys was compiled and the coloration of fruits at maturity was noted. It was found that most New World primate species eat fruits whose mature coloration ranges across most of the spectrum.
据报道，旧世界猴和猿在辨别可见光谱中的颜色能力方面与新世界猴存在差异。旧世界猴和猿（猕猴属、黑猩猩属、猩猩属）能够相当准确地辨别颜色，而一些被研究的新世界猴（松鼠猴属、卷尾猴属）对长波长光的敏感度较低，辨别能力也较差。本研究考察了另一种新世界灵长类动物棉顶狨（Saguinus oedipus oedipus，狨科）的颜色辨别能力。训练狨猴辨别一组孟塞尔色卡，包括同一色调类别内的色卡以及训练色调两侧的两个色调类别的色卡。结果表明，棉顶狨能够在可见光谱范围内做出准确的辨别。在相似条件下对人类受试者进行测试，以便将他们的颜色辨别能力与狨猴的进行比较。狨猴和人类受试者在辨别相同色调时遇到的困难最大。根据在自然环境中食用的水果颜色来评估猴子的辨别能力。编制了一份新世界猴各种物种通常食用的水果种类清单，并记录了成熟水果的颜色。结果发现，大多数新世界灵长类物种食用的水果，其成熟时的颜色涵盖了大部分光谱范围。
