Does the Colour Red Really Make a Bull Angry? Science Fiction

.

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Science Fiction lab.

I tell you what - we're really going to take the bull by the horns today.

BUD E, what's today's question, please?

How are you, love?

Just doing a spot of spring cleaning on me old hard drive there.

Today's question comes from Jean in Skibbereen.

Ole, ole!

White light is made up of a spectrum of colours.

These are red, orange...

Er, red, orange...yellow...

Er, red, orange, yellow...

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

They're the ones. Bang on!

Now, unlike humans, bulls are unable to see all of these colours.

For example, they can't tell blue from orange or red from green.

HORN

So if I had a red flag in bullring,

dressed in a big red coat, with my face painted all red,

it wouldn't matter a bit to the bull?

Well, not exactly.

In a bullring, the noise of the crowd

and any sudden movements will frighten the poor animal,

and this might make him angry and cause him to charge.

Argh!

So, Jean, even though you should be very careful around bulls,

you now know they don't have an issue with the colour red.

That's just a load of old science fiction.

Do you like my flag, Dr Knowles? I stitched it myself last night.

It's a nice shade of red, isn't it?

SHE GROANS