Some people and animals are color blind. For those who can see the world of colors there is endless wonder. So how do these colors happen in nature? How do you choose to be pink, black or violet?

How different creatures in the animal kingdom — from colorful birds and reef fish to butterflies and snakes — make and deploy their artful designs is one of nature’s many deep secrets. Now, however, a team of researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has exposed the fine details of how animals make new body ornamentation from scratch. The work, the result of years long and laborious experimentation, was published April 7 in the journal Nature.