Google Images 'as good as fieldwork' for studying animal colour

Study of different colours in black bears, barn owls, black sparrowhawks and crows finds online images can substitute for costly fieldwork

Studying photographs of animals posted online by the general public has proven to be as valuable as traditional fieldwork in research on the locations of species that have evolved with different colours.

Colour polymorphism - the occurrence of two or more colour types in the population of a species - has long fascinated biologists. These different colour types often vary geographically, providing a useful way of studying how different colour morphs evolve.