years ago i learned (thank you, oatmeal) about mantis shrimp and how it can perceive 12* different color channels and i am not the same person since

for comparison, we, humans, can only perceive 3 channels (red, green, blue)

what do the other 9 channels look like?

🤷‍♂️

*— it actually varies from 12 to 16

how do they know it can perceive that many color channels?

It is fascinating how advanced technology allows scientists to determine an animal's ability to perceive numerous color channels