Because platypuses weren't weird enough
Nov. 1st, 2020 06:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edschweppeThe platypus was a non-trivial part of Shadow Unit fandom for many years, mainly because "Platypus" was one of the nicknames given to Chaz Villette.
I was reminded of this today, when Firefox's default "Recommended by Pocket" starting page included a link to an article As if the Platypus Couldn't Get Any Weirder. Apparently, according to this paper in the journal Mammalia, platypuses biofluoresce under ultraviolet light - the only monotremes known to do so. Or, as the Gizmodo article puts it:
(DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2020-0027)
I do miss Shadow Unit. On the other hand, I'm pretty glad the series (about a subunit of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit that handles the really weird shit) ended before the Drumpf Administration took office.
I was reminded of this today, when Firefox's default "Recommended by Pocket" starting page included a link to an article As if the Platypus Couldn't Get Any Weirder. Apparently, according to this paper in the journal Mammalia, platypuses biofluoresce under ultraviolet light - the only monotremes known to do so. Or, as the Gizmodo article puts it:
The platypus is nature’s crazy quilt, as this strange creature looks like about a half-dozen different animals all rolled into one. Turns out that platypuses were hiding yet another conspicuous feature: THEY CAN FREAKIN' GLOW IN THE DARK.
It's not enough to be a mammal who lays eggs, sports a duck-like bill and webbed feet, hunts using electroreception, and wields venomous spurs. The platypus also glows green under ultraviolet light. Because of course it does.
(DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2020-0027)
I do miss Shadow Unit. On the other hand, I'm pretty glad the series (about a subunit of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit that handles the really weird shit) ended before the Drumpf Administration took office.