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Mammals with fluorescent fur: observations from the Wet Tropics

Wild mammals at a nocturnal feeding station near Lake Eacham in the Wet Tropics were observed variously by the viewing platform lights, by regular torchlight and by 395 nm ultraviolet torchlight. The fluorescence of two species of native rodent, two species of marsupial (one species of possum and one species of glider) is described, as well as further notes on fluorescence in one species of bandicoot. This doubles the number of published Australian mammal species with known fluorescent fur from four to eight. Additionally, an introduced species of rat in suburban Cairns was found to fluoresce.

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