There Are Not Many Creatures,

that are as strange,

as the Duck Billed Platypus, they have parts of quiet a few other animals making them up, the duck (bill and webbed feet), beaver (tail), and otter (body and fur), males are also venomous. They have sharp stingers on the heels of their rear feet and can use them to deliver a strong toxic blow to any foe, they lay eggs, but are mammals and suckle their young, but not through nipples, the mothers do not have them, the milk is delivered through the mothers skin, if all of that in one animal is not strange enough it now appears they almost glow in the dark! photograph above from left: visible light, ultraviolet light, and yellow-filtered UV light, photograph by Jonathan Martin, a recent study published in the journal Mammalia adds to the duck-billed creature’s lengthy list of peculiarities, apparently, when illuminated with ultraviolet light, the platypus’s dull, brown coat glows. The discovery happened after Jonathan Martin, an associate professor of forestry at Wisconsin’s Northland College, shined a UV flashlight on a flying squirrel in his backyard, which he found emitted a candy-colored pink hue. He then joined a few colleagues to visit Chicago’s Field Museum, where they replicated the process on the institution’s platypus collection, revealing the animals’ bright green and purple coat, according to one study, the fluorescent substances are found embedded within mammals’ hair follicles, although scientists aren’t sure why. Sensory biologist Sönke Johnsen told The New York Times that “just finding fluorescence doesn’t mean it has any particular purpose.” Similar radiating colors exist in coral reefs and sea turtles, among other organisms, although the phenomena are less common in mammals, overall, the discovery has prompted further questions about whether the platypus can see UV light—most humans cannot, except for on certain items like white T-shirts, I wonder what more secrets this fascinating animal holds?