Curiosity Cabinet

3 Curious Things that Glow in the Dark

When you think of things that glow in the dark, you probably aren’t thinking about flying squirrels or platypuses, but they are a couple of more than 125 different species of mammals that have been found to have biofluorescence, or the ability to glow under UV light. Unlike humans, many animals species can see the UV spectrum, but scientists don’t quite knows why flying squirrels or other mammals glow in the dark, but possible theories include to evade predators or possibly just because it’s sexy.

A pair of flying squirrels have pink stomachs and blue ears under UV light.
Southern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys volans, exhibiting biofluorescence when illuminated by a 365 nm UV light source, Photo by Lee Rentz.

Mammals aren’t the only types of animals to glow in the dark, birds also share this ability. Biofluorescence has been discovered in owls, puffins, and even budgies. Unlike in mammals, scientists have shown that birds use their glow in the dark abilities as part of their mate selection process. There is also new evidence that suggests that dinosaurs had a similar glow.

A cockatiel's feathers glow under a UV light.
A cockatiel glows under a black light. Kelly2357, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mammals and birds aren’t the only ones using biofluorescence. Carnivourous plants, such as pitcher plants glow in the dark, presumably as a way of attracting insects. All of this suggests that there’s a world of glow in the dark activity happening just out of sight.

A pair of images, one showing a pitcher plant under normal light, the other showing it under a black light, where the mouth of the plant glows blue.
The mouth of a pitcher plant glows under a black light. Photo via Smithsonian Magazine.

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