The World's Only Iridescent Mammal Is Blind and Lives Underground
Golden Mole Wikimedia CommonsWhat's the point of being shiny if nobody can see you? The golden mole, a small mammal (though not a "true mole") native to southern Africa, is the world's only known iridescent mammal: its coat is made of peculiar hairs that show a blue or green iridescence. This quality isn't unknown to animals; many fish, birds, and insects are iridescent, so why not mammals? But the golden mole can't attract a mate with its shiny coat: it lives underground, and is completely blind. A recent study conducted by Matthew Shawkey at the University of Akron in Ohio found, through examination of hairs of four species of golden mole through an electron microscope, that the mole's hairs are not constructed at all as expected. Instead of the typical narrowing point shape, golden mole hairs are flattened, like paddles. And the individual scales on the hairs alternate light and dark,...