• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Good News! Bats’ Incredible Twinkle Toes Glow Under Ultraviolet Light

August 19, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

A group of bats that fly as if they’re very proud of their feet have been vindicated with the discovery that their toes have a remarkable talent. When under ultraviolet (UV) light, the fluffy feet of a certain bat in Mexico glow a spooky hue of green and blue, and it’s possible it could be a way of communicating with other members of their species. A bat signal, if you please.

Advertisement

Some mammals glow. That’s just a fact you’re going to have to make peace with. We’ve seen it in koalas, Tasmanian devils, echidnas, wombats, zebras, and platypuses – and now we can add bats to the roster. That’s not to say that on a dark night you’ll be faced with a bat glowing like Mr Burns – it’s a specific kind of photoluminescence that’s revealed by UV light. 

The bat species in question is the Mexican free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis, and it has to be said that its extremely fluffy toes are pretty remarkable even before they glow.

a bat under UV light its toes glowing green-blue

Other bats in the region didn’t share the glowing toes phenomenon.

Image courtesy of F. Gual Suárez

When 24 wild bats were captured and given the UV treatment with a special light, it was discovered that the tips of their toes and the many bristles on them glow blue-green. This curious trait was seen among several bats from one region, and another Mexican free-tailed bat captured around 700 kilometers (435 miles) away.

Furthermore, the twinkle toes aren’t seen in all bat species. The team also looked at the feet of Myotis velifer and saw no evidence of glowing bristles under UV light, proving it’s not a feature in all bat species.

As for what Mexican free-tailed bats are doing with their fluffy feets, one suggestion is that they may be using them for communication. The authors say that ultraviolet vision has been experimentally confirmed in bats, and the flying position of these animals certainly seems to place their fluffy toes front and center. With just enough UV radiation in the environment at twilight, it could make it a visible and informative signal to other bats in the area, but more evidence is needed to know if this is really the case.

a free tailed bat in flight with furry feet sticking out ahead

They say put your best foot forward, and for these bats, that means both.

Image credit: Poetra.RH / Shutterstock.com

For now, it adds a fluffy air of mystery to these remarkable creatures who can claim a world-first for their talents among this group of bats.

“This is the first molossid bat for which a photoluminescent structure has been described,” concluded the authors. “It remains to be seen whether any function exists, such as intraspecific communication.”

The paper is published in the journal Mammalian Biology.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Motor racing-Hamilton and Verstappen collide and crash at Monza
  2. Ned Price: We condemn Taliban executions, amputations
  3. “The Great Stink” Engulfed London In A Cloud Of Fetid Air Back In 1858
  4. Brand New Species Of Delightful Sea Creature Discovered Off The British Coast

Source Link: Good News! Bats’ Incredible Twinkle Toes Glow Under Ultraviolet Light

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Martian Mudstone Has Features That Might Be Biosignatures, New Brain Implant Can Decode Your Internal Monologue, And Much More This Week
  • Crocodiles Weren’t All Blood-Thirsty Killers, Some Evolved To Be Plant-Eating Vegetarians
  • Stratospheric Warming Event May Be Unfolding In The Southern Polar Vortex, Shaking Up Global Weather Systems
  • 15 Years Ago, Bees In Brooklyn Appeared Red After Snacking Where They Shouldn’t
  • Carnian Pluvial Event: It Rained For 2 Million Years — And It Changed Planet Earth Forever
  • There’s Volcanic Unrest At The Campi Flegrei Caldera – Here’s What We Know
  • The “Rumpelstiltskin Effect”: When Just Getting A Diagnosis Is Enough To Start The Healing
  • In 1962, A Boy Found A Radioactive Capsule And Brought It Inside His House — With Tragic Results
  • This Cute Creature Has One Of The Largest Genomes Of Any Mammal, With 114 Chromosomes
  • Little Air And Dramatic Evolutionary Changes Await Future Humans On Mars
  • “Black Hole Stars” Might Solve Unexplained JWST Discovery
  • Pretty In Purple: Why Do Some Otters Have Purple Teeth And Bones? It’s All Down To Their Spiky Diets
  • The World’s Largest Carnivoran Is A 3,600-Kilogram Giant That Weighs More Than Your Car
  • Devastating “Rogue Waves” Finally Have An Explanation
  • Meet The “Masked Seducer”, A Unique Bat With A Never-Before-Seen Courtship Display
  • Alaska’s Salmon River Is Turning Orange – And It’s A Stark Warning
  • Meet The Heaviest Jelly In The Seas, Weighing Over Twice As Much As A Grand Piano
  • For The First Time, We’ve Found Evidence Climate Change Is Attracting Invasive Species To Canadian Arctic
  • What Are Microfiber Cloths, And How Do They Clean So Well?
  • Stowaway Rat That Hopped On A Flight From Miami Was A “Wake-Up Call” For Global Health
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version