Flashy exotic birds can actually glow in the dark

The birds, known for their showy displays, look even more colorful than we thought.

See full article...

 

[arakon]

I was kind of hoping to see pictures of said birds in the article.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

They wouldn't "glow in the dark" except under black light, and biofluorescence (which manifests in these birds) is not the same thing as bioluminescence, which appears several times in the article (which is what you need to glow in the absence of black light).

 

[Chuckstar]

They wouldn't "glow in the dark" except under black light, and biofluorescence (which manifests in these birds) is not the same thing as bioluminescence, which appears several times in the article (which is what you need to glow in the absence of black light).

Yeah. What these birds do is glow in the light.

As an example, the reason white clothes sometimes glow so well under black light is because of additives in laundry detergents that fluoresce. That makes the shirts brighter in daylight than they would be without those additives, since the additives convert invisible UV to visible wavelengths.

 

[raj4488]

YouTube link of the first sentence is missing a ".com" for "birds of paradise"

 

[raxadian]

My young kid us afraid if the dark si every night I have to turn on the glow in the dark bird by giving it some seeds.

 

[Zionyx]

I was kind of hoping to see pictures of said birds in the article.

I guess attn: Aurich but there is a photo next to the article heading on my screen, but because of the way the image is auto-cropped you can't really see anything in the image except some of the tail. Sure, you can click on it for the full-size image, but still.

 

[Chuckstar]

I guess attn: Aurich but there is a photo next to the article heading on my screen, but because of the way the image is auto-cropped you can't really see anything in the image except some of the tail. Sure, you can click on it for the full-size image, but still.

If you put @ before his screen name, Aurich will get a notification of your post. Similar notification as when someone quotes you.

 

[Veritas super omens]

I came to mention the same thing wheels did. I expect better from an ars author.

 

[Oldmanalex]

I came to mention the same thing wheels did. I expect better from an ars author.

Technically bioluminescence is biochemically pumped, as opposed to radiatively pumped, fluorescence. A biochemical reaction creates a new molecule in a singlet excited state, which does an intersystem crossing to an excited triplet state, which then fluoresces as it decays back to the ground state. The alternative is that absorption of exogenous shorter wavelength light pumps an electron into the excited singlet state of the fluorescent molecule, which then undergoes an intersystem crossing to the excited triplet state, etc.. As far as we know it is only the latter process going on here, so it is not bioluminescence. But, if some bird turns out to have fluorophore organelles, like many fish, I would not be amazed. After all, thanks to Wolbachia, there are parthenogenic, male chromosome only, parasitic wasps, and biology has a habit of getting around most dogmas.

 

[internet2000]

Where are the pictures? Surely not having pictures was an editor mistake?

 

[Fatesrider]

YouTube link of the first sentence is missing a ".com" for "birds of paradise"

Here's the fixed link:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkWjhCK4is8

They wouldn't "glow in the dark" except under black light, and biofluorescence (which manifests in these birds) is not the same thing as bioluminescence, which appears several times in the article (which is what you need to glow in the absence of black light).

That appears to be fixed now. Bioluminescence no longer appears in the article at all at my read.

 

[Deranged]

I was kind of hoping to see pictures of said birds in the article.

Where are the pictures? Surely not having pictures was an editor mistake?

This CNN article has a couple of pics. It is of stuffed birds illuminated by a black light.


https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/20/science/birds-of-paradise-biofluorescence-feathers

-edit- I find it pretty curious that not just the feathers but also the beak is biofluorescent.

 

[Oldmanalex]

This CNN article has a couple of picas. It is of stuffed bird illuminated by a black light.


https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/20/science/birds-of-paradise-biofluorescence-feathers

View attachment 103340

Do not show this to my granddaughter. Her hair colors already frighten me, and these hairstyles already look Troll-shaped, even before the coloring.

 

[BigDXLT]

So this is basically going to give their colour some extra punch against a forest back ground. Very cool.

 

[CADirk]

This CNN article has a couple of pics. It is of stuffed birds illuminated by a black light.


https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/20/science/birds-of-paradise-biofluorescence-feathers

View attachment 103340

-edit- I find it pretty curious that not just the feathers but also the beak is biofluorescent.

I think that the beak and the feathers both are made out of keratin.
The 3rd picture includes it, the claws on the feet and the scales on the leg light up as well.

Now i'm curious, birds do have an extended range in the UV spectrum for sight compared to humans, so they see this pretty easy i guess, so there could be a relation to UV reflective feathers and bird's eyes.
Do all birds with vision in that range also have feathers that shine like this?

 

[Deranged]

So this is basically going to give their colour some extra punch against a forest back ground. Very cool.

I mean, the dark coloured birds of paradise (that are the ones with bio fluorescence anccording to this article) are pretty special to begin with. Apparently, their feathers are so black that researchers who study the say it’s almost difficult to focus their eyes on the birds because of the deep black.

And they do weird stuff like this (this is an actual photo of a live bird):

https://www.livescience.com/61406-black-hole-bird-of-paradise.html

 

[Chuckstar]

So this is basically going to give their colour some extra punch against a forest back ground. Very cool.

And against the bird’s black feathers. As pointed out, the biofluorescence is found in birds whose mating presentation is some bright feathers against black feathers.

 

[Chuckstar]

I mean, the dark coloured birds of paradise (that are the ones with bio fluorescence anccording to this article) are pretty special to begin with. Apparently, their feathers are so black that researchers who study the say it’s almost difficult to focus their eyes on the birds because of the deep black.

And they do weird stuff like this (this is an actual photo of a live bird):

View attachment 103357


View attachment 103358

https://www.livescience.com/61406-black-hole-bird-of-paradise.html

Just to avoid confusion, those photos are two different species. It’s not the same species from different angles.

 

[Chuckstar]

I think that the beak and the feathers both are made out of keratin.
The 3rd picture includes it, the claws on the feet and the scales on the leg light up as well.

Now i'm curious, birds do have an extended range in the UV spectrum for sight compared to humans, so they see this pretty easy i guess, so there could be a relation to UV reflective feathers and bird's eyes.
Do all birds with vision in that range also have feathers that shine like this?

Yeah. Feathers are homologous to hair. Beaks are similar to (but I’m not sure whether homologous to) fingernails. A beak gives a bird a hard portion of its mouth that gets regenerated over time. It’s an evolutionary outcome somewhat similar to being able to continuously replace teeth, such as sharks do.

The important aspect of the biofluorescence is UV photons transformed into visual light photons. Reflectance of some UV photons without being transformed may also play a role in the birds, but that’s unrelated to the biofluorescence.

 

[appliance]

Got my cat a bird collar with an ultra violet band - hasn't caught a bird in a couple of years. As a scientist friend of mine once said: To a bird, a dog is blind. They can see stuff.

 

[Yuki_0]

Do not show this to my granddaughter. Her hair colors already frighten me, and these hairstyles already look Troll-shaped, even before the coloring.

I would say you live up to your name, but I'm no spring chicken and I love colored hair. Including fluorescence neon colors.

 

[jp0id]

I hope more pictures.

 

[macosandlinux]

There are a handful of parrot, owl, nightjar, penguin, and puffin species that are known to have biofuorescent feathers or patches of skin.

typo in the source text or ars introduced?

 

[macosandlinux]

They wouldn't "glow in the dark" except under black light, and biofluorescence (which manifests in these birds) is not the same thing as bioluminescence, which appears several times in the article (which is what you need to glow in the absence of black light).

Yeah, I was wondering same? Many natives of PNG and tourists/scientists would have seen them at dusk/night, so would have noticed the 'glow' if they actually did.

So it's the same as shining a black light at scorpions at night, right?

 

[macosandlinux]

Yeah. What these birds do is glow in the light.

As an example, the reason white clothes sometimes glow so well under black light is because of additives in laundry detergents that fluoresce. That makes the shirts brighter in daylight than they would be without those additives, since the additives convert invisible UV to visible wavelengths.

Thanks to Ars readership I learn something new every day.

 

[Jeff S]

YouTube link of the first sentence is missing a ".com" for "birds of paradise"

Also, the third link to "shape shifting" goes to youtube.watch, which my browser says that server can't be reached. I can, however, reach youtube.com, so I don't think this is a case of Youtube being blocked by my employer. Should that maybe have been youtube.com/watch/... instead of youtube.watch ?

Edit: I manually edited the URL to what I suspected it should be, and it worked for me. So I think the URL is bad.

 

[Veritas super omens]

Yeah, I was wondering same? Many natives of PNG and tourists/scientists would have seen them at dusk/night, so would have noticed the 'glow' if they actually did.

So it's the same as shining a black light at scorpions at night, right?

Exactly. Glow in the dark equals emitting photons. Ie you could see them inside a completely dark cave. Flourescent equals taking photons of a certain wavelength and re-emitting at a different wavelength. In a completely dark cave they would go unseen. They are different phenomenon.

 

[ackmondual]

Here's the fixed link:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkWjhCK4is8


That appears to be fixed now. Bioluminescence no longer appears in the article at all at my read.

Kung Fu Panda 2, eat your heart out! (the peacock character [Cheng] in particular, with all the twirling and "wingspan stances")

 

[Dreamerr]

That appears to be fixed now. Bioluminescence no longer appears in the article at all at my read.

I currently see it in the article.

Something that is immediately noticeable about the Western parotia and many other birds of paradise is that most of their feathers are a shade of black so dark and impenetrable that Martin and her team call it “super black.” It is thought to be the ultimate contrast to their brighter colors generated by bioluminescence. Species without these “super black” feathers were found to be lacking in biofluorescence.