Hundreds of years ago, purple was a color worn only by royalty. That’s because purple pigment—a chemical substance that gives something its color—was very expensive and hard to find.

These days, purple is all around you. (You might be wearing it right now!) But one place it’s STILL hard to find is on animals. That’s because very few animals have purple pigments on their bodies.

But some birds, insects, and other animals can look purple, thanks to a trick of the light. The feathers on a bird, or the scales on a reptile or on certain insects, may reflect sunlight in a way that makes them appear to be a bright color—even if those feathers or scales contain only brown pigments. This is called structural coloration.

Many of the animals shown here look purple because of the way they reflect light. But that doesn’t make them any less royally colorful!

PURPLE EMPEROR BUTTERFLY
See how one wing looks bright purple, while the other is a dull brown? The wings of this butterfly are held at different angles. Tiny scales on one wing catch the light—voilà, purple!—while the other wing shows its “true” color.

SHIELDHEAD GECKO
With its deep-purple body and bright-orange head, this little lizard looks like two different geckos mashed into one!

GREEN TREE SNAKE
What kind of a name is that for a purple snake? Usually, this kind of snake DOES look green. Depending on the lighting, it might also look yellowish or blue. But this one appears royally purple while resting resting in the sun at just the right angle.

FUNGUS BEETLE
Just look at those gorgeous purple wing covers, or elytra (EH-luh-truh). Wouldn’t you like to meet THIS beetle?

SEA PEN
Despite its “trunk” and “branches,” this showy purple sea pen is an animal—or, rather, a bunch of small animals called polyps (PAH-lips) that work together. (That hitchhiker is an April fooler, too: It’s called a porcelain crab, but it’s more closely related to lobsters.)

VOLCANO HUMMINGBIRD
Do you think this male hummingbird knows his throat feathers match the flower he’s perched on? This jewel of a bird weighs only about as much as a penny.

BLANKET OCTOPUS
This female octopus unfolds the dramatic, colorful webbing between her arms as if to say, “Back off—I’m bigger than you thought!”

Look outside—can you find any purple in the nature around you? What’s YOUR favorite color to spot in the wild?