{"id":11469,"date":"2025-07-20T22:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T22:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11469\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T22:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T22:17:08","slug":"glow-in-the-dark-animal-captured-on-camera-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/11469\/","title":{"rendered":"Glow-in-the-dark animal captured on camera for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s a bird! It\u2019s a plane! Wait, no, it\u2019s a glow-in-the-dark animal?<\/p>\n

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A photographer from Down Under has become the first person to capture a photo of a glowing marsupial in the wild.<\/p>\n

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Aussie photographer Ben Alldridge submitted a photo as part of the 2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize. The photo was of a wild Eastern quoll, which is carnivorous marsupial that\u2019s native to Tasmania and exhibits biofluorescence.<\/p>\n

Using invisible ultraviolet light, Alldridge captured the mammal glowing in the dark, and his photo is considered the first photographic evidence of a quoll exhibiting biofluorescence in its natural habitat, people.com<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere their fur is normally fawn or black, under certain wavelengths of light, they exhibit a process referred to as biofluorescence \u2014 like nature\u2019s version of a white shirt glowing at a disco,\u201d Alldridge said, per the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

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Smithsonian Magazine reported that several mammals across the globe, many of them nocturnal, are known to exhibit this phenomenon, including polar bears, moles, zebras, wombats, armadillo and more. Non-mammals such as corals, insects, spiders, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds also exhibit the phenomenon, although the exact biological purpose of biofluorescence is still unknown.<\/p>\n

Alldridge said he hopes his photos and studies into biofluorescence will help solve the mystery surrounding it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s likely a messaging or identifying system similar to our fingerprints, but that is wild speculation at best,\u201d he said, per the Daily Mail. \u201cFor now, we will just say they like to party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alldridge\u2019s photography will be considered as part of the ongoing research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of light we waste illuminating space \u2014 both physical and now literal \u2014 is ridiculous, and in many cases is counterproductive to why the lights are installed to begin with,\u201d Alldridge said.<\/p>\n

Alldridge\u2019s photo is one of 12 finalist images to be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery from Aug. 6-31, as part of the Beaker Street Festival.<\/p>\n

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