The platypus has gotten a whole lot stranger. Not only does it look like a chimera of different animals, a mammal that lays eggs and has venom, it’s now found to have bioflourescent fur.
It glows green under UV light.
Scientists are seeing the Australian platypus in a whole new light. Under an ultraviolet lamp, this bizarre-looking creature appears even more peculiar than normal, glowing a soft, greenish-blue hue instead of the typical brown we’re used to seeing.
The recent discovery has not been found in any other monotreme species – a primitive type of mammal – and it has scientists wondering: Have we been overlooking an ancient world of fluorescent fur?
“Biofluorescence has now been observed in placental New World flying squirrels, marsupial New World opossums, and the monotreme platypus of Australia and Tasmania,” the authors write.
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