Debunked Myths
Myth:
Bulls charge because they hate red.
The Truth Is:
Bulls are red-green colorblind! They charge at the cape's movement, not its color.
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What We Know Now:
The iconic image of matadors enraging bulls with red capes is pure theater, not zoological fact. Cattle, including bulls, are dichromats with only two color receptors, making them unable to distinguish red from green. To bulls, the famous red cape appears as a shade of grey or brown.
The bull's aggressive charge responds to the cape's threatening, fluttering movement—not its color. The red hue serves human audiences: it creates vivid spectacle and, grimly, helps mask the bull's blood. This myth persists despite thorough debunking, showing how compelling visual narratives can override scientific reality.
Understanding the truth reveals the bull's behavior as reaction to perceived threat rather than color rage. It strips away symbolic drama to show the spectacle's fundamental nature: a provoked defense response to movement, making the tradition both less magical and more fundamentally tragic in its essence.
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