Stop It All – Turns out wombats have biofluorescent fur too

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First we found out the platypus would look great in a rave, now wombats, bilbies, and other marsupials can join in the black light party – with scientists unexpectedly discovering that they all glow. beautifully fluorescent greens, blues and pinks under UV light.

In recent years, scientists have found that biofluorescence is more common in mammals than we thought – with flying squirrels glowing bubblegum pink, prompting researchers to see how much of this trait exists. in our mammalian heritage by checking monotremes like the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) – the oldest line of mammals still alive.

Understandably, once the platypus glow is revealed, other researchers like the curator of the Western Australian Museum of Mammalogy, Kenny Travouillon and biologist Linette Umbrello, sUV gloss tarted down on various specimens in museum collections.

And so far their results have been far from disappointing, with revelations of neon wombats and glowing-eared bilbies.

“We only tried on maybe two dozen mammals, so it wasn’t a thorough search.” Travouillon told ScienceAlert. “Probably about a third of them shone.”

These included platypuses (which they checked twice), echidnas, bandicoots and bilbies, opossums and bats. Australian creatures join a host of other living things that biofluoresce, including insects, frogs, fish and fungi.

Biofluorescence occurs when a living thing absorbs high-energy radiation such as ultraviolet, and then emits light at a lower frequency. Many proteins have been identified that can do this in skin or other animal tissues – including bones and teeth, Greta Frankham, Australian Museum wildlife forensic specialist, told ScienceAlert.

“There are chemical compounds in many parts of the body of animals that appear to fluoresce, so it’s not surprising to find other chemical compounds in other things like fur that fluoresce,” Frankham said.

Scientists isolated some of these molecules and used them for scientific imaging, such as the green fluorescent protein from jellyfish.

The exact details of how and why biofluorescence occurs in these mammals remain to be determined. But however it is achieved, it certainly produces surprisingly brilliant results under UV light, like this Bilby’s ears and tail (Macrotis leucura).

Bilbies are nocturnal and endangered desert species that love to eat another animal that glows under UV rays – scorpions.

The endangered eastern wombats and bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) are also nocturnal species. Many biofluorescent mammals identified so far are either nocturnal or crepuscular (most active at dawn and dusk), but biofluorescence requires a light source so that the glow is then re-emitted and there is less light. UV around at night.

“Maybe they are able to see a lot more than what we can see,” Travouillon speculated.

“Predators don’t seem to glow. I think it’s because if predators could be seen they would lose any chance of catching their prey.”

Frankham pointed out, however, that many marsupials are nocturnal, so this may not necessarily be a determining factor in the evolution of this trait.

While there is now a lot of speculation as to why some mammals glow under UV rays, we have just realized how widespread the phenomenon is. So there is a lot to do before we can glean answers.

In response to the commotion over the glowing animals on social media, Lund University evolutionary biologist Michael Bok warned:

Field studies are needed to examine whether there are even advantages or disadvantages of this ability in the natural environment of these animals – but given the vulnerability of many of these Australian species, it is probably worth checking out. whether this trait has an impact on their ecology or not. .

“At this point we are all guessing why this is happening, so more testing will be needed to really understand what is going on,” Travouillon said. He plans to test more mammals with different lights and see if there really is a pattern with nocturnal mammals.



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