Green mammals?

[Shemjaza]

There are plenty of pigments found in nature that give things a green colour, and there are plenty of green plants that would make being green as predator or prey am advantage. Has there ever been an example of a mammal with green skin or green fur?

Reptiles often have green scales and a lot of birds have green feathers. I'm pretty sure fish and mollusks can be green. (I think beetles can be any color.) So why not a green mouse or monkey?

 

[essentialsaltes]

OK, OK, I understand it's from moss or algae growing on them.

 

[Shemjaza]

OK, OK, I understand it's from moss or algae growing on them.

Well sloths cheat... and are filthy.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Gah! essentialsaltes beat me to it!

But to answer your question: I don't think there is. I think it's just that mammals developed their skin pigments, or rather fur pigments, to break up their outline.
Let me put it this way: a single colour as camouflage is not really the best form of camouflage, for both prey and predator. The best forms of camouflage are the ones that break up the outline of the animal, like the tiger. Although of course, when you're an animal like the hippo, the rhino or the elephant, camouflage counts for practically nothing at all.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

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Thread moved from Physical and Life Sciences to Creation and Evolution!

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[USincognito]

I can't think of any blue furred mammals other than the Russian Blue which is really more blueish gray than blue.

 

[Loudmouth]

There are plenty of pigments found in nature that give things a green colour, and there are plenty of green plants that would make being green as predator or prey am advantage. Has there ever been an example of a mammal with green skin or green fur?

Reptiles often have green scales and a lot of birds have green feathers. I'm pretty sure fish and mollusks can be green. (I think beetles can be any color.) So why not a green mouse or monkey?

Mammals use melanin for skin and fur color which limits them to shades of red and brown, at least from what I have seen. It is shorter evolutionary path to find ways camouflaging with melanin (or other ways of hunting) than it is to evolve a completely different pigment. For example, ocelots are well camouflaged on the jungle floor without needing any shades of green.

 

[Shemjaza]

Interesting.

Are the colourful scales and feathers on birds and reptiles based on the same principles?

Amphibians also have some nifty colours.

Is it possible that the mammal bloodline just lost this trait for some reason? (I guess fuzzy little burrowers and scavengers don't need pretty colours.)

 

[Oafman]

So why not a green mouse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_acouchi

Aslo:

 

[joshua 1 9]

There are plenty of pigments found in nature that give things a green colour, and there are plenty of green plants that would make being green as predator or prey am advantage. Has there ever been an example of a mammal with green skin or green fur?

Reptiles often have green scales and a lot of birds have green feathers. I'm pretty sure fish and mollusks can be green. (I think beetles can be any color.) So why not a green mouse or monkey?

Color is a reflection of what part of the light spectrum is absorbed and what is reflected. The pigment chlorophyll absorbs deep-blue and red light, so that the rest of the sunlight spectrum is being reflected, causing the plant to look green.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Color is a reflection of what part of the light spectrum is absorbed and what is reflected. The pigment chlorophyll absorbs deep-blue and red light, so that the rest of the sunlight spectrum is being reflected, causing the plant to look green.

We know that. What the OP is asking is: are there any animals which have green fur?

 

[Shemjaza]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_acouchi

Aslo:

Close, but it's still kinda a yellow brown. But the highlights do make it look green.

I looked at a buck of pictures and it's interesting that artists typically draw them as actually green.

 

[Shemjaza]

Color is a reflection of what part of the light spectrum is absorbed and what is reflected. The pigment chlorophyll absorbs deep-blue and red light, so that the rest of the sunlight spectrum is being reflected, causing the plant to look green.

Isn't reflecting green light and being coloured green by definition the same thing?

 

[Oafman]

Close, but it's still kinda a yellow brown. But the highlights do make it look green.

I looked at a buck of pictures and it's interesting that artists typically draw them as actually green.

Oh come on! They're green! Sort of....

There's also a red acouchi, which isn't hugely red!

 

[Oafman]

Isn't reflecting green light and being coloured green by definition the same thing?

It is, yes. Joshua was showing off!

 

[Loudmouth]

I found a decent website explaining color in animals. As it turns out, some animals who look one color do not use pigments to get that color. For example, the bluebird doesn't have blue pigment. Instead, structures in its feathers scatter light and produce a blue color. There are some interesting mechanisms for blue frogs, as well. Worth a read if you are interested in these types of things:

http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/7I.html