Scientists accidentally discover Australian marsupials glow in the dark



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brilliant-wombat

The wombats were found to glow under UV light.

Kenny Travouillon

Australia’s wildlife is known to be some of the most dangerous and volatile on the planet. Spiders, snakes, and sharks abound, not to mention the box jellyfish and a whole host of spooky critters. But less stress – if thinking about them brings up feelings of unhappiness and sadness, it might brighten your mood.

In October, a group of American scientists published a study in Mammalia showing that the humble Australian platypus glows in the dark. In light of this discovery, scientists at the Western Australian Museum conducted further tests to find even more Australian mammals and marsupials that also glow.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, after reading the original study, the curator of mammalogy at the Western Australian Museum, Kenny Travouillon, borrowed ultraviolet (UV) light to verify the validity of the claims himself.

“We borrowed it and turned off the lights in the collection and looked for what was glowing and not,” Travouillon told ABC. “The first one we checked was obviously the platypus. We shone the light and they shone too, this research confirmed.”

The team then looked at other specimens to see if the light line extended to other marsupials. By trying the light on marsupial moles, bilbies and wombats, the experiment was again successful.

As for Why they glow in the dark, we are still not 100% sure. Travouillon speculates that it might just be a matter of identifying other members of their species in the dark, as most of the specimens that glowed were nocturnal.

“The advantage is probably that they can see their species from a distance and they can approach them because they know it is safe to go towards this animal,” he told ABC.

Whatever the reason, mad mammals shine on you.

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