Green vs. gray.

Children’s drawings usually bring a smile to their parents’ faces, but when Japanese Twitter user @komde’s son showed him his latest artistic endeavor, it gave him some concerns as well.

It’s not that the artwork was bad. On the contrary, the boy had drawn a perfectly fine alligator. What had @komde worried, though, was the color. Instead of using green, like pretty much anyone knows to do, @komde’s son had colored his alligator gray.

Worried that his son might be showing signs of being colorblind, he had the boy take a colorblindness test. @komde was reassured when the results were negative, but still puzzled. If his son’s eyes are fine, why doesn’t he know what color alligators are?

But the kid actually does, it turns out, as @komde tweets:

“The colorblindness test showed there was nothing wrong with his vision, so I did an Internet search for alligator pictures, and…they’re almost all gray.”

▼ Google image search results for wani, “alligator” in Japanese

Sure enough, most alligator are more greenish than bright green, with their actual bodies arguably more gray, brown, or pale yellow. Even when alligators do appear green, algae sticking to their backs while swimming or after they emerge from the water often contributes to the color, making their skin look more green than it actually is.

In addition to having good eyes, @komde’s son might also have a good memory, since the father recalls taking the tyke to Shizuoka Prefecture’s Atagawa Tropical and Alligator Garden (also known as the Atagawa Banana and Alligator Garden), and a look at the facility’s website and videos taken there show some very gray gators.

“Alligators being green is just adults’ set image of them” concludes @komde, and maybe his kid’s artwork will have more to teach us as he grows up.

Related: Atagawa Banana and Alligator Garden
Source: Twitter/@komde via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Google, Atagawa Tropical and Alligator Garden
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