Why Are Blue Animals So Rare?

This colour is almost never seen in the natural world. It is so rare in fact, that it almost doesn’t exist at all.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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CREDITS
Created by Dylan Dubeau
Executive Producer, Director, and Director of Photography: Dylan Dubeau
Host: Danielle Dufault
Editor: Cat Senior
Writer: Lauren Greenwood
Producer, Camera Operator: Andres Salazar
Production Assistant: Hayley Torio
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Untangling convergent evolution.

[@kriblar98]

On that note theres a disappointing lack of pink and purple butterflies

[@thelittleal1212]

Ye, I’m pretty sure purple is more rare than blue. It’s one of the only colors that doesn’t even appear in the rainbow

[@theendergent3603]

​@@thelittleal1212 violet is part of the rainbow

[@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous]

@@thelittleal1212 There are plenty more colours that don't appear in the rainbow. Take any colour in the rainbow and either lighten them, darken them, oversaturate them or desaturate them and there you go, millions of more different colours. Pink is just light red and brown is just dark orange surprisingly enough. Magenta however is truly different since it is made by exciting the colour-sensing cones in our eyes that are sensitive to red and those sensitive to blue but not those sensitive to green. Magenta is therefore 'anti-green'.

[@thelittleal1212]

@@theendergent3603 hmm true, but it’s still not as common as blue. And I was more referring to the darker variants.

[@thelittleal1212]

@@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous true true…

[@Sunflowersarepretty]

Blue birds and blue butterflies have to be the most beautiful creatures. Like I could just look at them for hours and be in awe of their beauty. 💙💙💙

[@edchanful]

blue dragonfly

[@feiliormia]

Bleauty

[@paulmarynissen]

When I was about 6 years old, I was at the beach (here in Australia) and was playing in the rockpools. I was playing for ages with this little octopus that was showing the most amazing blue rings. My parents came over to see what I was doing. They completely freaked out and knocked it out of my hands and I then found out all about the potentially lethal Blue-ringed Octopus.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

OMG, you almost died!

[@chrisbj4038]

you were one lucky kid!

[@davidgoldenrose]

I can only imagine how terrifying that would have been for your parents omg. I'm glad you're safe

[@VeteranVandal]

Because the very few ways of making something blue with organic chemistry are usually somewhat reactive molecules. But structural blue is a lot easier (which is why, when you see blue in nature, it's structural most times) and can be done with blocks of stable particles of the right size. It's a lot easier to do that than to have a molecule that can absorb that much photonic energy without degrading. You also rarely see violet for the same reason, and both can be done with structural color; the only restrictions you have are the molecule building the blocks not absorbing the light you want to scatter. And as you go in higher energies, you have to use unstable stuff as sources, and get into optical problems like most things absorb UV light, e.g..

[@VeteranVandal]

The organic molecules that either reflect only blue or absorb and emit blue are very interesting tho.

[@ehet8487]

that guy who said 'oh my god, ang ganda!' tehhh that's a blue-ringed octopus susmaryosep! that's extremely venomous!

[@gitfiddlio]

The blue highlights in D's hair are on point

[@SorenAlba54]

Nice, given the fact that blue is my favorite color, this episode gets my vote. 💙

[@julakenley7787]

Ditto!

[@animalogic]

Thanks for watching!

[@turkeysandwich421]

Tell that to those blue macaws!!! They are so incredibly beautiful seeing them in person is a whole other thing!

[@nagari9093]

6:40 Blue lobster jumpscare

[@theperfectbotsteve4916]

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 plays*

[@thomasseidler6137]

What about the Mandrill? It's got a Blue Face. 😊

[@lugialover2496]

The only “green” mammal is the sloth, since it’s so slow, algae grows in its fur

[@antrewt]

There doesn't seem to be green or purple mammals either, but birds and insects and reptiles come in every colour surely.

[@voltstorm17]

Green snakes are actually yellow pigment + blue structural colour. I don't think mammals can be green unless they do something like that. But there are a good number of (structurally coloured) blue mammals though

[@jackshadowbrowse]

Sloths probably dont count, but they grow algae and moss on them that turns them green

[@sqrt2295]

Some cetaceans have blue-ish skin, and mandrills and golden snub nosed monkeys have blue faces.

[@davidedevincentis5444]

Speaking of blue mammals, there's the baboon, its muzzle is blue

[@abyssal_phoenix]

​@davidedevincentis5444 and the mandril with blue cheeks or whatever part of it's face it is (in males only if i remember right)

[@aisadal2521]

Immediate flashbacks to Shane's Blue Chickens from Stardew Valley! 😍😍😍 Also, omg, we're almost close to 2 million subs! 🎉🎉🎉

[@animalogic]

We are nearly there!!!

[@warhawkjah]

"Where's all the blue food?" - George Carlin

[@AphidKirby]

Fun episode! Wish you talked about the Isopod Iridovirus! Which infects isopods and grows crystals inside them that make them look blue!! One of the craziest ways nature came up with a blue

[@juliav.mcclelland2415]

What about creatures with blue blood like the horseshoe crab?

[@amelisticamente56]

pretty sure thats bc their blood is copper based instead of iron based!

[@darthgorbag]

@@amelisticamente56 Interesting. Vulcans have copper-based blood, yet theirs is green, not blue (or red).

[@BrunoCaruso-wz7pg]

@@darthgorbag copper can generate blue or green pigments, one great example is gems like malachite having a blue-ish green color because they have high percentage of copper in their composition

[@eRic-hr3yl]

I might be wrong but iirc the mandarin fish or dragonet which appears in this video also shares the oddity of having pigment blue Also I wonder whats the case for blue tonged animals like the skink, polar bear and chow chow I think were those (?)

[@bentleyangeldekao7768]

You’re right. The olive wing isn’t even the only butterfly to have blue pigments. Also many of the animals listed in the video have blue pigments, like the video even talked about their blue carotenoprotein pigments?! I’m honestly really curious on what their source was for this info.

[@BrunoCaruso-wz7pg]

the "blue" tongue, like any "blue" piece of flesh, probably are more likely purple and it only looks blue-ish to us because there´s less red than other colors being captured by the light reflected in the flesh...it might work pretty similar to how parts of our bodies look purple-ish when we get hurt or swollen

[@wanderlustwarrior]

I'd read a Sonic the Hedgehog children's book when I was younger (Sonic in the 4th Dimension) where he had to infiltrate an army of "Mythos Creatures", And he argued that they should accept him because blue like his color is clearly unnatural. Blue being so rare has lived rent free in my mind ever since!

[@voltstorm17]

Structural coloration! My favourite fun fact to share with my students.

[@benderbendingrodriguez420]

Blue Jays are just so naturally majestic & beautiful. Always a thrill to see one in the backyard, feels like a good luck charm to us 🇨🇦's 😊

[@adamhbrennan]

Cookie Monster called dibs

[@tonydeluna8095]

Keep at it with the video AnimalLogic! 💯

[@monstermoonshine]

You mentioned that the "structural blue" absorbed longer wavelength and only blue remains. And in the animation it was shown that even the violet light is absorbed. But violet has shorter wavelength than blue, not longer... the story should be more complicated than that

[@stormboss57]

It`s not easy being blue.

[@benderbendingrodriguez420]

- Bermit the Toad

[@greenlight9863]

Not to flex, but I got blue eyes

[@johndoejjdujd]

Hi

[@althechicken9597]

Good luck leaving Arrakis spice addicted fool!

[@Octopusmaster]

Me too

[@BrunoCaruso-wz7pg]

blue and green eyes are mutations from brown eyes, that´s why it´s possible for some people to have blue-eye or green-eye children without having blue or green eyes, your eyes don´t have actual blue pigments

[@kimbratton9620]

Wow that was an awesome topic!!

[@geckosruleall]

Again, so happy to see Second Nature come back! I love the format and the wide variety of topics. Thanks for keeping it up!

[@yuyutubee8435]

I sincerely dislike the old footage. I find it really jarring.

[@geckosruleall]

@@yuyutubee8435 Okay... that's fine. To each their own. I think it's a neat video format. Sorry you don't care for it.

[@mikehanna8498]

talk about animal symbiosis! like gobys and pistol shrimp. Love the content btw!

[@Dwagginz]

A fun video, as always. My only criticism is I would have liked the names of the chemicals/compounds/etc. to have been displayed on screen alongside Danielle's narration, so it's easy to look them up after. :)

[@salaltschul3604]

Big fan of the blue-ringed octopus. The thing doesn't show the blue rings until you've already pissed it off! "Ooh, what pretty blue...uh-oh."

[@Gelatinocyte2]

0:11 "oh my gad ang ganda!"

[@TYOjoe]

wow that "true blue" butterfly was absolutely beautiful

[@markjade3587]

damn i love this channel so much

[@joeambrose8992]

Cassowaries, blue Jays, blue sharks, blue whales, indigo racers, lobsters, blue crabs, blue roan horses, blue heelers, blue Australian shepherds and I even saw a barn kitten with blue hindquarters. It's front half was black but halfway down it's back it started getting a mixture of gray within the black

[@LandgraabIV]

You missed the Azure jay from.Southern Brazil! Their blue is so beautiful. Love seeing them in the Araucaria forests.

[@thhseeking]

Or the Norwegian Blue Parrot. Beautiful Plumage ;)

[@changingpeopleslivesmoon2993]

I love this channel

[@1BigBucks1]

Blue LED lights were also hard to make

[@meh4090]

Can you please do a video on the three species of peafowl

[@JonasBecker-nc3rm]

A video on Portuguese Men'o'war would be lovely!

[@EmilyJelassi]

Very interesting video!😊❤

[@allisonbergh4429]

It’s fascinating how much the story of natural history research, as well as exploration, hinges on people’s occasional obsession with blue butterflies. Fortunes, families, even lives have been lost in pursuit of them!

[@kennethmullen-qe9hg]

I loved the dream-squashing created by juxtaposing that gloriously trublue butterfly (like, ahhhhhhhh!) alongside the black'n'white feeding chameleon, with CRUNCH!CRUNCH!CRUNCH! to tickle our earholes, and, roll upon our drumskeins...where world-shattering image (quite literally for the butterfly, unfortunately, I'm afraid) prompts an immediate reversal in response from _ahhhhhhh!_ to _awwwwww!_ in that of, but an instant (about the same as chameleon tongue took makin' quick work, and a quick meal of said insect nutritious morsel)! LmMFaO!! ;) :P :o)

[@FinnegansFish]

What about the blue dart frog?

[@merizmawiz6233]

There's a bunch ( at least 10) dendrobates that are true blue pigmented color.

[@VG-or1nu]

03:28 08:34 Thats is the difference between ‘appearing blue’ and ‘being blue’… I thought all color was made by the same phenomena of absorbing certain wave lengths and reflecting others? Can someone explain 🤔

[@itsamagicalliopleurodon]

I’d like to know that too, I’m so confused! How do we know that those animals have the actual pigment and aren’t tricking the eye also🤔

[@killiemon]

I think I have more questions now than when I started! To start: 1. How do chromatophores work? 2. The video started that that one butterfly is the only animal known in nature to really be blue rather than just a truck of light, so what causes blue pigment to be blue that is not a trick of light?

[@ericthompson3982]

If it's the side of the blue sea dragon that it presents upward most of the time, can you legitimately call it the "underside"?

[@akhasshativeritsol1950]

I know this is an animal channel, not a physics/biochemistry channel, but I wish they had gone into more detail about answering the video title question: WHY is blue so rare? Why is it so hard to make pigment that reflects blue light?

[@hood_TheJoker]

it's not difficult to be blue if you're an alien I bet

[@mikeeustaquio3316]

I always wished if there’s a wild blue spix macaw flying over head in the canopy of the Amazon rainforest

[@susanbrown4891]

Thanks for the fascinating video.🦜🦚🦩🐦🪽

[@syamamunnitham9497]

supperFun episode! Wish you talked about the Isopod Iridovirus! Which infects isopods and grows crystals inside them that make them look blue!! One of the craziest ways nature came up with a blue

[@Sarappreciates]

Why are moths and some other animals attracted to artificial light even to the point of presenting self-destructive behaviors?

[@TheRealEggGod]

*A bass boosted form of "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" by Bach proceeds to play*

[@staynappy8479]

First!!!!! Finally lol, I love your guys informative videos

[@Bc232klm]

😃 hope you enjoy your weekend

[@feralaeroapparel]

If octopus are aliens, somebody probably brought them from Europa 🤔😂

[@Mark16v15]

Blue is the most difficult LED color to make. Maybe that's somehow related to its rarity in nature.

[@fuducker2]

This is gonna be good!!!!!!!!!!

[@Viniter]

Sometimes, things that appear blue are actually white and gold.

[@blessedbeauty2293]

- 3:20 Wait, ✋🏽 so I've *been lied to?* That bird is really black? 🐦 🤯

[@rusnikfromtranscarpathia]

You forgot our blue macaw Rio, and the blue dart frogs! Reedit!!

[@Nissanghmohanbabu]

Could you please do a regular Animalogic video with the elephant? You could also do a Paleologic or an Animalogic's World of Birds video.

[@notchipotle]

blue viper is my favorite, they look mythical

[@TheRexisFern]

And we can't forget the blue racer snake!

[@ericsanta8676]

Please teach us about Siphonophores!!!!!

[@sabersight908]

i already knew most of this but gosh it always confuses my brain if i think even a little about the fact that blue is not actually blue xD

[@Moulton_Lava]

Blue morpho butterfly, that is all

[@kblskables2877]

She called the peacock a peafowl lol... that's a party foul

[@christopherleander9068]

Blue wasn't even a color to humans until 6,000 years ago, and the first writing of the vibrant color was around 4,500 years. Mother nature continues to teach us wonderful things (especially through this channel). 🤔✌️

[@kennethmullen-qe9hg]

I'd learned this through the WF, AJ/Hecklefish! Haha! ;) :P :o)

[@David-ns8ft]

Oh Wow Shiny Pokemon are real. 6:38

[@cainofthejungle]

Poison dart frogs are the Gen x of animals

[@terryenglish7132]

Lol, the Blue Butterfly was Teal on my screen . I wonder if Teals are Teal according to this outlook.

[@sushantmanandhar1387]

"Why are blue animals so rare?" I'm literally right here

[@jucape2823]

I wonder why mamals can't develop green or blue colors? If I know right we can't have either the pigments or the visual effects for it. I supose is a phylogenetic burden (I thinck that's what is called in english, I'm more use to the term in spanish "lastre filogenético"). Anyway, I would like to see a video about it.

[@jeremiahalguire8231]

Scishow did an awesome episode on this subject as well. Mind blowing how structure can create color lol

[@alvaroludolf]

I'm blue, da ba dee da ba di

[@jakegordz101]

Does the lilac breasted roller also use structural colour??

[@wikyWargaming]

The fact that we don't actually "see" what we see is always a pinch unsettling to me.

[@fleachamberlain1905]

Portuguese or Pacific Man-o-War, depending on where the Blue Sea Dragon lives.

[@johnsenmaglianfajardo4389]

"Oh my god! Ang ganda" 🐙

[@jamescanningauthor]

Calls to mind "blue" dogs and cats! ❤

[@joshbernal8441]

"Why is the sky blue, why is water wet?"..

[@Comenta-san]

🎵I'm blue if I was green I would die🎵

[@Prismaticlysm]

Same with blue eyes! Blue eyes are actually brown, but reflect the blue light spectrum!

[@elchefreedom5063]

Yet, in the flower kingdom it is said to be the most prevailing color…. Blue

[@brendanhoffmann8402]

My Dad had a pretty upsetting thing. A blue ringed octopus in a jar of formaldehyde. It's rings were forever blue. My Dad was a monster for the environment. He'd go down and take animals from the rockpools which is illegal here.

[@lizycole8999]

What about Blue Sharks? Why is their countershading so vibrantly, well, blue?

[@blessedbeauty2293]

- I love blue lobsters && cray fish 🦞🦂

[@aerovelu4677]

06:51 thats a shiny ✨️ lopster 😜

[@furqanziajutt8014]

So that's why we say "once in a blue"

[@turkeysandwich421]

Never heard that heard once in a blue moon

[@3tou6bi88]

What about the Naavi?

[@oopsy444]

kinda weird i got a "bluey" ad during this video lol

[@terryenglish7132]

What difference does it make if its reflection or refraction . This is a distinction w out a difference.

[@DogFoxHybrid]

I wish you'd have discussed blue in mammals, like monkeys with blue faces or balls and the famous blue whale.

[@freelunatwo]

Blue pigments in the plant world are also exceedingly rare.

[@bartolomeorizzo]

what about cassowary head skin?

[@isairuiz461]

In other words: blue isn’t a color, it’s an ability

[@BrunoCaruso-wz7pg]

pretty much the ability to reflect the right wavelenght of light, or the ability to generate the blue pigment

[@lbrown7164]

Gr8 content

[@LadyBrightcynder]

Since you talked about blue animals, how about red animals next time? I learned about erythrism recently so it'd be nice to know more about it.

[@chandraathithan11]

Talk about brahminy kite

[@jordanhicken7812]

It’s also the warmest color