Northern flying squirrel luminescing
Happy New Year everyone!
As some of you may know, I find it very intriguing that many mammal species have been found to luminesce recently. Nobody knows why but a surprising number of mammals glow funky colours under a UV light. I’d heard a few years ago that a botanist looking for lichens in the US with a UV light had discovered that northern flying squirrels glow purple under UV light, and ever since I’ve been trying to find a compliant flying squirrel that would let me shine my UV torch at it. This week the family and I spent 3 nights on the Gunflint Trail at the Borderlands Lodge. They currently have flying squirrels visiting some of the bungalows in search of peanuts. I lent my torch to one of the lodge managers, who took this photo. As you can see, the squirrels underparts glow a light pink colour under the UV. Very cool!
We also saw a mother and subadult lynx on the trail, which I suspect will be around for at least a little longer in case they’re high on anyone’s ‘must see’ list. Additionally we saw a couple of moose, many snowshoe hares as well as lots of wolf and otter tracks. It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area and if you do I highly recommend staying at the Borderland lodge – it’s close to the end of the trail and is reasonably priced.
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