As if flying squirrels weren't cool enough already (after all, they can glide over 150 ft or 46 m) an accidental scientific discovery, made in 2019, revealed that they can also glow neon pink under UV light.

The discovery was made by Jon Martin, associate professor of forestry at Northland College in Wisconsin. Martin was using a UV flashlight (also known as a black light) to see if frogs who lived in his woodsy Wisconsin back yard would glow in the dark. The frogs did not, but when the beam touched on a flying squirrel as it landed on a nearby bird feeder, he was met with bright neon pink.

The Texas A&M University wildlife and fisheries department led research to confirm the discovery, and concluded that the incident was not a one-time occurrence; other flying squirrels did in fact also fluoresce pink. The results were published in the peer-reviewed ‘Journal of Mammalogy’ on January 29, 2019.

Flying squirrels are one of the few known mammals that fluoresce, which involves absorbing light in one color and emitting it in another. Curiously, scientists have yet to discover exactly why they feature this ability.

While flying squirrels are one of the few mammals that light up under black light, they're not the only animals that do. The platypus becomes a psychedelic blue-green color under black light, and the quills of hedgehogs, porcupines and echidnas shine bright white.

Many insects, as well as scorpions, also fluoresce when lit up, as demonstrated in the photo.

More Info: earthsky.org