Birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects? Sure. But no mammals.
So I had to google it. Apparently, there is a sloth that moves around so slowly moss grows all over it and it doesn’t care. So it may appear green, but only in the sense that it wears it.
Great read! That explains a lot.
I’ve been deep diving a bit myself and found this article that explains another thing that’s puzzled me over the years. Some birds have crazy vibrant coloration that almost glistens, like peacock feathers. Outside of the zoo, I’ve noticed it a bit in common grackles. They look black on first glance, but when you study them closely, they have this kind of purple sheen around their heads. Apparently, it’s still melanin at work here, but it’s structured in a very special way.
This may have already been covered but whilst there might not be mammals that appear green to human eyes there are certainly mamals that appear green to the prey/predators in their environment.
Perfect example is a tiger who (to us) stands out like a sore thumb with its orange fur but is perceived as green with black stripes through the eyes of its prey, making it very well camouflaged in the jungle.
Do you mean my cats are actually green in the eyes of it’s potential prey?
You’d think evolutionary, there would be at least some green mammals to help them blend into the plant life around them. Like bunnies hiding in bushes, or monkeys in trees. I suppose shades of brown work similarly in the same situations.
I know some predators don’t see color the same way humans do — could the lack of green and dominance of brown have something to do with seeing motion, or heat, or something else we don’t see?
iirc, the reason tigers are black and orange stripey is because deers and whatever else they eat don’t see orange, they see green. This blends the tiger in with the surroundings better.
Right? I guess that’s what puzzles me the most about it. It must be really hard for mammals to become green since you would think it would confer an advantage in many environments you find them in.
I guess there are a lot of mammal species that kind of make themselves scarce during the broad daylight hours, so maybe green camouflage is less relevant if you’re only out between dusk and dawn?
They’re out there but it’s been hard to document their existence since they blend in so well with their environment. This natural camouflage is a double-edged sword, however: they may be able to avoid getting eaten by predators but it also makes reproduction particularly challenging since they have a hard time finding one another to do it like the Discovery channel.
Even when a potential breeding pair are able to meet up, their coupling is far from guaranteed due to the abundance of other green orifices in their usual habitats. Grass-covered mole tunnels, mossy logs with holes in them and bee nests in leafy trees have all been accidental natural fleshlights for these poor creatures. Like they say, it’s not easy being green.
