From glowing cats to wombats, fluorescent mammals are much more common than you'd think

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But no one knew how common it was among mammals until now.

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Wednesday, October 4, 2023

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But no one knew how common it was among mammals until now.
Our research, published in Royal Society Open Science today, found this glow – known as fluorescence – is extremely common.
Then, we tested if the fluorescence we observed in museum specimens was natural and not caused by preservation methods.

Nightclub visitors will be familiar with white clothes, or perhaps their gin and tonic, glowing blue under UV light.
These chemicals then emit visible light, which is lower-energy electromagnetic radiation.
In the case of gin and tonic, this is due to the presence of the quinine molecule in the tonic water.

Our team came together because we were curious about fluorescence in mammals.
We wanted to know if the glow reported recently for various species was really fluorescence, and how widespread this phenomenon was.
We started with the platypus to see if we could replicate the previously reported fluorescence.

Fluorescence is clearly common and widely distributed among mammals.
Nocturnal mammals were indeed more fluorescent, while aquatic species were less fluorescent than those that burrowed, lived in trees, or on land.
Based on our results, we think fluorescence is very common in mammals.
Linette Umbrello receives funding from the Australian Biological Resources Study and is a Research Associate at the Western Australian Museum.