Why Do Bulls Hate Red - Is It Really True?

In Spain, there is a famous sport known as Matador and the word matador refers to the individual holding a red cloth known as muleta. A matador's job is to make the bull charge at them while showing off their skills in dodging the attack.

The peak of this sport is when the bull is killed by the matador as the time comes. Aside from Spain, this sport is also said to be known in countries like Portugal, Mexico, Peru, and France as well as other countries under Spanish and Portuguese influence.

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However, this sport also triggered many controversies especially the killing of hundreds of bulls that caught the attention of animal enthusiasts. Not just that, the sport itself also caused several casualties to the matadors while performing the show.

Many people demanded that the sport be put to an end at once. Aside from all of that, many people also believed that the bull hates the red color as the bull kept charging at the matador waving the red cloth.

But the question is, does the bull really hate the red color or is it all just a myth?

The Bull Does Not Hate The Red Color

The reality is that the bull does not show any hate towards the color red even if the matador is holding a red cloth. Even if the matador was to hold other colored cloth like green or blue, the bull will still charge at them.

The truth is the bull simply does not like the action of the matador waving the red cloth which is considered an annoyance to them. Due to that, the bull will act by charging at the cloth so that the action will be stopped.

But why does the matador choose a red-colored cloth instead of other colors in this sport? The matador has been using this color for the past 200 years and the reason is to cover any splash of blood coming from the bull or the matador himself while in action.

Explanation According to Science

From the scientific perspective, there was a theory to support that the bull does not only hate specific colors such as red.

According to Brooke Borel, the bull is an animal that is color-blind. Because of this, it will never know the color of a muleta cloth which is commonly red. Instead, the bull felt disturbed because of the matador's action of waving the cloth at them.

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This fact is also supported by the bull's action of attacking the capote cloth held by the matador. A capote cloth is much bigger in size than the muleta and it comes in magenta/purple at the front and golden/blue color at the back.

Mythbuster Experiment To Prove This Theory

In order to support this theory a group of individuals from Mythbuster conduct an experiment to see if the red color truly disturbs an angry bull. For those who do not know, Mythbuster is a science reality tv show from Australia and the US that runs scientific experiments to prove or deny a science theory.

In the experiment, 3 matadors were placed in an arena where each of them was holding a different colored muleta. All 3 of the colors were red, white, and blue.

In the start, all three matadors were simply holding the muleta without waving them at the bull. When all three matadors were static, it was found that the bull did not show any sign of aggression by attacking the cloth.

In the next phase, all three matadors were signed to wave their muletas. At this moment, all the bulls were seen charging at the respective matadors aggressively. This proved the theory that bulls does not only hate the red color but instead were intimidated by the waving action of the matadors.

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