Fox Squirrels In East North Carolina ‘Glow Pink’

[maximus otter]

Bigfoot is apparently not the craziest thing you might find in North Carolina’s backwoods.

On Wednesday, state biologists revealed a disconcerting fact about those infamous 2-foot-tall fox squirrels known to live in the eastern part of the state.

“Just another boring rodent, right?” said a post on the NC Candid Critters Facebook page. “Not unless you think that glowing pink is boring!”

Many fox squirrels have a condition called congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP) that causes their bones and sometimes even their fur to glow pink under ultraviolet light.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article225622500.html

maximus otter

 

[Swifty]

Bigfoot is apparently not the craziest thing you might find in North Carolina’s backwoods.

On Wednesday, state biologists revealed a disconcerting fact about those infamous 2-foot-tall fox squirrels known to live in the eastern part of the state.

“Just another boring rodent, right?” said a post on the NC Candid Critters Facebook page. “Not unless you think that glowing pink is boring!”

Many fox squirrels have a condition called congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP) that causes their bones and sometimes even their fur to glow pink under ultraviolet light.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article225622500.html

maximus otter

I wonder who the first person was who thought 'I wonder what will happen if I shine ultraviolet light on this dead squirrel'?. Is shining ultraviolet light on dead animals a normal thing that experts do?

 

[maximus otter]

Is shining ultraviolet light on dead animals a normal thing that experts do?

It is for Norfolk Constabulary. (Semen fluoresces under UV...)

maximus otter

 

[Swifty]

It is for Norfolk Constabulary. (Semen fluoresces under UV...)

maximus otter

Ha Ha .. but seriously, unless someone's abusing dead squirrels, what's the point of UV lights being shone on them?

 

[maximus otter]

Ha Ha .. but seriously, unless someone's abusing dead squirrels, what's the point of UV lights being shone on them?

Maybe they were just dicking about in the lab, seeing who had false teeth. (False gnashers fluoresce under UV) .

Maybe they had lost their pet scorpion, Nigel. (Scorpions fluoresce under UV).

Maybe they were looking for a fresh source of grant money. Who knows?

maximus otter

 

[EnolaGaia]

This latest news story derives from longstanding knowledge, and it doesn't represent anything new.

Fox squirrels have long been known to commonly exhibit CEP (a hereditary disorder) to the extent it's practically endemic to the species. Evidence of CEP has been found in fox squirrel remains dating back thousands of years.

CEP, one of the rarest forms of porphyria, can be debilitating in humans, cats, dogs, and domesticated livestock. In fox squirrels it's less severe and mainly involves only one of the condition's associated biochemical effects.

Fox squirrels have long been used as a sort of standard reference species for studying this type of porphyria. In other words, the fox squirrel's (species') history makes it a naturally-configured 'lab rat' for CEP research.

Pink fluorescence of CEP-afflicted bones and tissues under UV light has been known (and used for diagnosis in animals) for decades.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC302231/
https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2012SE/finalprogram/abstract_202149.htm

 

[ravensocks]

Maybe they were just dicking about in the lab, seeing who had false teeth. (False gnashers fluoresce under UV) .

Maybe they had lost their pet scorpion, Nigel. (Scorpions fluoresce under UV).

Maybe they were looking for a fresh source of grant money. Who knows?

maximus otter

Liked for Nigel!

 

[maximus otter]

Liked for Nigel!

I’ll pass it on.

maximus otter