Platypuses Glow an Eerie Blue-Green Under UV Light |
| Platypuses Glow an Eerie Blue-Green Under UV Light - SoylentNews |
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[0]upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:
[1]Platypuses glow an eerie blue-green under UV light:
Duck-billed, egg-laying [2]platypuses just got a little weirder: It turns out their fur glows green and blue under [3]ultraviolet (UV) light.
Under visible light a platypus’s extremely dense fur — which insulates and protects them in cold water — is a drab brown, so the trippy glow revealed under UV light on a stuffed museum specimen was a big surprise.
[…] Prior to this discovery, biofluorescence was known in only two mammals: flying squirrels, which are placental mammals, and opossums, which are marsupials, according to the study, published online Oct. 15 in the journal [4]Mammalia.
Study co-author Allison Kohler, a doctoral candidate in the Texas A&M University Wildlife and Fisheries Department in College Station, Texas, had previously tested museum specimens of flying [5]squirrels and found that all three North American species — the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) and the Humboldt’s flying squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis) — glowed bright pink in UV light. Kohler and her colleagues reported their results on Jan. 23, 2019, in the [6]Journal of Mammalogy.
While testing the flying squirrel museum specimens for signs of biofluorescence, they decided to look at other mammal species in the same collections too, [7]according to a statement.
Journal Reference: Paula Spaeth Anich, Sharon Anthony, Michaela Carlson, Adam Gunnelson, Allison M. Kohler, Jonathan G. Martin and Erik R. Olson, Biofluorescence in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), Mammalia, DOI:[8]Biofluorescence in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
[9]Original Submission
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0. upstart - SoylentNews User
- Platypuses glow an eerie blue-green under UV light | Live Science
- Platypus facts | Live Science
- What Is Ultraviolet Light? | Live Science
- Biofluorescence in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
- Squirrels: Diet, Habits & Other Facts | Live Science
- Ultraviolet fluorescence discovered in New World flying squirrels (Glaucomys) | Journal of Mammalogy | Oxford Academic
- https://www.degruyter.com/newsitem/415/shining-a-uv-light-on-the-glowinthedark-platypus
- Biofluorescence in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
- Platypuses Glow an Eerie Blue-green Under UV Light: SoylentNews Submission