A new study has found that platypus fur glows under ultraviolet light. It is the third mammal known to have this feature (an opossum and a flying squirrel are also known to fluoresce under UV).
The glowing was first recorded by scientists in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, who were studying the pink fluorescence in museum specimens of flying squirrels and decided to examine the three platypus specimens in the next drawer along. While all three were uniformly brown in colour under visible light, under UV conditions they appear either green or cyan. It is suggested that this feature may allow platypus to see and interact with each other in the dark.
The researchers hope to work with a team in Australia to observe biofluoresence in wild platypus.
An article about the find is included here:
https://phys.org/news/2020-10-uv-glow-in-the-dark-platypus.html
The full paper is included here:
Biofluorescence in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) in: Mammalia - Ahead of print
The glowing was first recorded by scientists in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, who were studying the pink fluorescence in museum specimens of flying squirrels and decided to examine the three platypus specimens in the next drawer along. While all three were uniformly brown in colour under visible light, under UV conditions they appear either green or cyan. It is suggested that this feature may allow platypus to see and interact with each other in the dark.
The researchers hope to work with a team in Australia to observe biofluoresence in wild platypus.
An article about the find is included here:
https://phys.org/news/2020-10-uv-glow-in-the-dark-platypus.html
The full paper is included here:
Biofluorescence in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) in: Mammalia - Ahead of print
