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After checking with museum staff, the team descended to the basement, found the platypus cabinet, and turned on their special lights. “And of course,” Dr Olson said. They were finally able to examine three platypuses: a male and female at the Field Museum and another male at the University of Nebraska State Museum. They all gave off the same cold glow.
The same was true of a road-killed platypus discovered this summer by a blacklight mycologist in northeastern Australia. Despite the sad circumstances of the find, “we were delighted to know that it had been verified on a wild specimen,” said Dr Olson.
So why would a platypus fluoresce?
“We really don’t know,” Dr. Olson said.
Other examples of Lite Brite life form have a clear purpose. Bioluminescence, for example, helps ocean creatures attract their prey and find themselves in the depths. And hummingbirds get information from the ultraviolet hues reflected in some flowers.
The fluorescence, however, is a bit more opaque. Because it is a natural property of some materials, “just finding fluorescence doesn’t mean it has a particular purpose,” said Sönke Johnsen, a sensory biologist at Duke University who was not involved. in the study. Instead, he said, that glow could be incidental – “just something that’s there because it’s there”.
It is not known whether platypuses can perceive UV rays or fluorescence, especially in natural light. One theory is that by absorbing and transforming UV light rather than reflecting it, platypuses can hide better from UV-sensitive predators.
But that’s just a guess, Dr Olson said: “Our main goal is to document this trait,” in the hope that future research may shed more light. For now, his group plans to strategically study other nocturnal mammals, to see if they can add to their list.
They may have already opened a few other museum cabinets. “Stay tuned,” he says.
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