Timeline for How Can a Mammal Be Green and Blue? (No Camo, Please!)
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
24 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 14, 2020 at 16:32 | comment | added | PcMan | FYI: researching for this question lead me to read this phrase: " using an electron microscope and other tools to look at skin from the scrotums of a vervet monkey".... Just so you can appreciate what we have to go through when trying to compose a coherent answer. | |
| Dec 14, 2020 at 0:37 | answer | added | user2352714 | timeline score: 0 | |
| Dec 13, 2020 at 12:03 | comment | added | JohnWDailey | @Mazura Does eating saltmarsh grasses give you that color? | |
| Dec 13, 2020 at 5:46 | comment | added | jamesqf | Blue is actually not all that uncommon in nature. Lots of blue birds (or multi-colored birds with blue patches), blue butterflies & dragonflies. Hereabouts (eastern Sierra) blue is probably the most common flower color - in season you can find entire meadows of blue penstemon, lupine, or camas: fairfieldidaho.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/… | |
| Dec 13, 2020 at 4:10 | comment | added | Mazura | outside of camouflage or algae nor due to what they eat? I.e., pink flamingos. | |
| Dec 13, 2020 at 0:02 | comment | added | JohnWDailey | @Matthew nytimes.com/2019/02/20/science/zebra-stripes-flies.html | |
| Dec 12, 2020 at 20:04 | comment | added | NomadMaker | Camo is quite common in nature. What about plaid? | |
| Dec 12, 2020 at 1:00 | answer | added | Willk | timeline score: 1 | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 16:36 | answer | added | elemtilas | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 16:20 | comment | added | Matthew | @JohnWDailey, citation needed. Especially as observational evidence would seem to suggest otherwise. | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 15:55 | comment | added | JohnWDailey | @Matthew That theory has been debunked. | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 14:53 | comment | added | Matthew | Zebra stripes definitely are camouflage... of sorts. What you have to remember is that the stripes aren't so much about making the animals hard to see (though, as noted, they may partly have that effect) as making it difficult to single out individual animals in a group. In that sense, they are very effective, even against human vision. | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 14:03 | comment | added | JANXOL | @Separatrix There are animals which mimic the colors of aposematic animals, even though they are not dangerous themselves. For example milk snake, which is harmless, displays the same warning colors as coral snake, which is venomous. So perhaps there's another animal with similar coloring and silhouette that is genuinely dangerous, and this one mimics it to ward off predators. | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 9:52 | answer | added | Separatrix | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 9:44 | comment | added | Separatrix | @Mary, it works, but mostly there's a reason behind the colouring, in the case of (honey) badgers they are powerful creatures with a particular tendency towards aggression when threatened. This creature doesn't look built for such violent response, I'm equally unconvinced. | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 9:32 | answer | added | user78828 | timeline score: 0 | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 5:31 | answer | added | V.Aggarwal | timeline score: 4 | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 5:02 | answer | added | JBH | timeline score: 3 | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 4:59 | comment | added | Mary | If it's to warn off predators -- how does it do that? The bright colors warn off because when the predator attacks, it gets something it doesn't like. (Such as poison from monarch butterflies.) What is the danger in attacking it? | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 4:40 | comment | added | jamesqf | @JohnWDailey: Zebras are conspicuous to you, a trichromatic primate. But what's relevant is how conspicuous they are to their natural predators, which are mostly dicromatic felines. | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 4:31 | comment | added | JohnWDailey | @L.Dutch-ReinstateMonica Tiger, yes. But zebras are way too conspicuous for that. | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 4:25 | comment | added | DWKraus | True blue coloration IS very rare. Here's a very similar question with blue. worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/186811/… I gave an answer to that one. Sorry I don't have time to dig into this now. Mammals are mostly color-blind compared to other species and tend to thus have fewer colors. Primates are re-evolving the ability to see color (which kind of explains mandrills). | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 3:58 | comment | added | L.Dutch♦ | What do you mean with "no camo"? Do you consider a zebra or a tiger stripes camo? | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 3:52 | history | asked | JohnWDailey | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
