Fluorescence — the absorption of short wavelengths of light and re-emission of longer wavelengths of light — is widely distributed among mammals and is most intense among nocturnal species, according to new research by biologists from Curtin University, the Western Australian Museum and the Queensland University of Technology.
Fluorescence is the process by which a chemical on the surface of an organism absorbs light and then emits the light at longer and lower-energy wavelengths.
One example is when an animal’s surface absorbs high-energy, short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV) light and emits the fluorescence as a lower-energy colored, often pink, green or blue, glow.
Fluorescence can make the previously invisible UV light visible by shifting it within the range of white light, so an animal does not necessarily have to see into the UV spectrum to detect fluorescence.
Numerous organisms have been reported to fluoresce including plants, corals, insects, spiders, scorpions, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds.
Fluorescent compounds have been identified in a variety of animal materials including bone, teeth, claws, fur, feathers, carapace and skin, and the visible fluorescent colors observed include red, yellow, green, blue and pink.
“Among mammals, the first published reports of fluorescence were in rabbits and humans in 1911 with more recent published observations of fluorescence for New World flying squirrels, springhares, platypus, dormice and a variety of other rodents, as well as an array of other mammalian species,” said lead author Dr. Kenny Travouillon, curator of mammals at the Western Australian Museum, and his colleagues.
“There is also a plethora of anecdotal reports of mammals glowing under UV light.”
In their study, the researchers examined a wide range of mammal species held in a museum collection for the presence of apparent fluorescence using UV light.
They then analyzed a subset of preserved and non-preserved…
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