Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb here. It's amazing what you can find if you shine a flashlight into your backyard trees. Biologists in Wisconsin have made a rather startling discovery that way, in part startling because it apparently hadn't been recorded until now.
Three different species of flying squirrels, specifically Southern, Northern, and Humboldts flying squirrel which are found across North America and into Central America, sport light brown fur that, when spotlighted with ultra violet illumination, lights up a hot bubblegum pink.
The phenomenon occurs on both the top and bottom surfaces of the flying squirrels, though it's the underside of a flying squirrel's carriage, including the flaps of skin that's spread out when the squirrel glides from tree to tree that really glows. Jonathan Martin, a biologist at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, made the discovery in the forest one evening just by shining a UVY flashlight into the tree canopy. He was looking for lichens, which are certain types of frogs and
flora that light up in UVY light. That's when he heard the chirp of a southern flying squirrel. As the squirrel glided by, he shined the UVY flashlight on it, and he saw a flash of fuchia. Martin and his colleagues soon found themselves examining the skins of flying squirrels at the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Field Museum in Chicago. They took photos of the skins under visible
light and ultra violet light. All but one specimen of the gliders glowed a pink that has been variously compared to bubblegum, day glow, and licro from the nineteen eighties. The results of the study were published in the January twenty nineteen issue of the Journal of Mammalogy. The pink is caused, the researchers say, by the furs fluorescence, which is what happens when light is absorbed in one wavelength
and emitted in another. You may remember an episode we did about how scorpions floresce bright green and ultraviolet light. Some birds also have this trait, some fish too. Few mammals do, though. Flying squirrels are nocturnal and are most
active at dusk and dawn. No other squirrels in North America are known to possess this ability to fluoresce, including tree squirrels like the Eastern gray, though there are over two hundred and fifty squirrel species around the world, and to be fair, the researchers have not yet tested other species for the next question is what purpose could this fluorescence serve. Humans can't see ultraviolet wavelengths except under special lighting,
but other animals can. One theory suggests the pink is used to confuse owls, which, as it turns out, also have undersides that fluoresce. A similar pink. Owls prey on flying squirrels, among other mammals. Perhaps the squirrels evolved to mimic owls so as not to be eaten by them. Another theory, which is already being challenged, is that the pink attracts potential mates. Flying squirrels have mating seasons, but their flamboyant fluorescence is available for view it in year round. Anyway,
it's not even clear that squirrels can see in UV wavelengths. Ultimately, the researchers point out that age old impetus of science. This is proof of how much we don't know and still need to learn. The study concluded the ecological significance of this trait warrants further investigation. Today's episode was written by Jamie Allen and produced by Tyler Clang for iHeartMedia and how Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff works
dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.