Discover what colors are the most rare to see in nature, and how physics and evolution drive their scarcity.



Plants, animals, or minerals found in nature bear almost every color imaginable. There are two factors that influence what hues you see in the wild: physics and evolution. So, which colors are you least likely to see in the natural world? Victoria Hwang explores one of nature’s rarest spectacles.

Lesson by Victoria Hwang, directed by Tamara Bogovac, Artrake Studio.

2:33 Image referenced from paper by Eric R. Dufresne, Heeso Noh, Vinodkumar Saranathan, Simon G. J. Mochrie, Hui Cao and Richard O. Prum, photograph of Plumthroated Cotinga (Cotinga maynana) by Thomas Valqui, https://rsc.li/3xyhxGu

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Animator's website: https://www.artrake.com


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