Flying squirrels that turn hot- pink at night discovered
Wisconsin, Feb. 9: Squirrels are cute, and it turns out that one flying type of squirrel also turns pink. A new study reveals that scientists have discovered that the North American flying squirrel or Glaucomys turn pink at night.
The study in the Journal of Mammology describes that these flying squirrels fluoresce at night. It was during an investigation led by Jon Martin, a professor in the forestry department at Wisconsin’s Northland College, who was scanning his backyard with an ultraviolet flashlight to see which lichens, mosses and plants fluoresced, Cnet reported.
The flying squirrel was spotted then, which glowed hot pink under the ultraviolet light. This led to further research leading to the discovery of all North American flying squirrel species fluoresced.
It is unclear as to why these flying squirrels fluoresce, but researchers attribute it to the survival instinct.
The bright night flashes may be to alert other
SURVIVAL
squirrels as they glide through trees.
In the spring of 2017, Jon Martin was scanning his backyard with an ultraviolet flashlight to see which lichens, mosses and plants fluoresced.
That’s when he spotted a flying squirrel.
He asked Allison Kohler, then studying at Northland and now a graduate student in the Texas A& M University wildlife and fisheries department, to take the lead investigating his discovery.
She started with the Science Museum of Minnesota's collection of stuffed squirrels, some of which go back decades.
INSTINCT
“Some specimens were extremely vibrant pink, while one actually didn't fluoresce at all. All but this one did fluoresce, however, in some intensity or another,” she said via email.
The team also gathered specimens at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, in all, studying more than 100 male and female museum specimens across the country, plus five live ones.
The team of researchers concluded that all three North American flying squirrel species fluoresced, and that pink is particular to squirrels that fly.