I heard David Attenborough being asked this question on Australian radio a few years back. He was stumped - other than to suggest a type of cat that grows mould in its fur and even he admitted that this was cheating! So the question is this - There are green fish, green insects, green birds, and green reptiles, but are there any green mammals? And if not, why not?

ohlavash

No because the skin of a mammal can't be made of scales, or feathers. Jun 20 06, 11:09 AM

casperone123

Try and make sense of this, but i think nobody knows why. A few possible explanations are discussed here. http://www.hhmi.org/cgi-bin/askascientist/highlight.pl?kw=&file=answers%2Fgeneral%2Fans_046.html Jun 20 06, 11:12 AM

casperone123

OHLAVASH, mammals can have scales. For instance, the Pangolin has scales. Jun 20 06, 11:15 AM

zbeckabee

THE GREEN coloration of reptiles and birds is a mixture of yellow and blue. The yellow is a pigment, while the blue is a refraction effect called Tyndall blue, produced by transparent particles dispersed in a transparent medium with a different refractive index. Tyndall blue can and does appear in eyes, scales, feathers, and skin, where there are transparent substances of uniform texture, in which minute air bubbles or other transparent particles may occur. It cannot appear in hair which is never uniform in texture but always consists of stringy bundles. We can imagine mammals with green skin, made by adding a yellow pigment to the Tyndall blue of a mandrill's cheeks, but it is difficult to imagine a selective advantage for them. Green is a camouflage colour, not a signal colour. To be useful to a mammal, it needs to be in the hair. http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1357,00.html Jun 20 06, 1:00 PM

Baloo55th

Certain sloths are green because of algae growing on ridges on their hair. Scales are related to hair, so there is no real reason why mammals shouldn't have them. Not many do, apart from pangolins, armadillos and such. There are two ways for a mammal to have colour - skin and hair/fur. Apart from green (absent from both), there are no pink animals in terms of fur, and blue is only found rarely - such as on the mandrill, I think. Blue cats are more a sort of grey (but don't say that in their hearing). Purple is also absent - except in certain retired army officers who write to The Times. And I can't recall any mammal that is a true orange colour. So it's not only green that's missing. Jun 20 06, 1:10 PM

wliiafan

Mammals that sleep in trees. Sloths, the algae washing of on them, turning a greenish colour. Jun 20 06, 1:44 PM

beaniegirl61

Orangutans and some Pomeranians are orange. Jun 20 06, 9:29 PM

Baloo55th

Not a true orange. Orangs are really red. Don't know pomeranians very well. Jun 21 06, 2:14 PM

zbeckabee

Okay, everyone, I have a nice picture of a green polar bear for you...Don't believe the article...it is NOT algae that turned the bear green...he was born that way because aliens came down and zapped his mother and voila...Tyndall blue can NOW appear in hair. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/asia-pacific/3518631.stm Jun 21 06, 5:43 PM

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Why are there so few (or no) purple or green mammals? Why are leaves green? Why is the grass green? Who said "It's not easy being green?"

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