this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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Showerthoughts

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Ever notice mammals never seem to come in green? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 6 months ago by tunetardis@lemmy.ca to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects? Sure. But no mammals.

So I had to google it. Apparently, there is a sloth that moves around so slowly moss grows all over it and it doesn't care. So it may appear green, but only in the sense that it wears it.

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[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 58 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Good article here https://nature-notes.riverlegacy.org/how-come-there-are-no-blue-or-green-mammals

[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 21 points 6 months ago

So I skimmed that and it seems the tldr is mammals have melanin (and I'm guessing the other animals don't)

[–] abbadon420@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago

Very nice read, thanks

[–] tunetardis@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 months ago

Great read! That explains a lot.

I've been deep diving a bit myself and found this article that explains another thing that's puzzled me over the years. Some birds have crazy vibrant coloration that almost glistens, like peacock feathers. Outside of the zoo, I've noticed it a bit in common grackles. They look black on first glance, but when you study them closely, they have this kind of purple sheen around their heads. Apparently, it's still melanin at work here, but it's structured in a very special way.