Why are there no green mammals?

[Feck]

I'm sorry but calling that green is like calling a rainbow green.

Not a great picture, true. Try seeing one live for more information.

Oh, an tree sloths are frequently green.

Still you have to dig pretty deep to find a green mammal, unlike other vertebraes who come in an abundance of green, except maye fish, but then they don't have so much plant life to blend into.

Can you think of a reason why it would be more benificial to be black and white (like a zebra or cow) than green and yellow?

Yes How often is Zebraland green .......try spotting a zebra in a heat haze ....... try cutting a weak one out of a herd ......also Zebra stripes may set up thermals across the skin aid cooling ....... why wood a Zebra want to be green when lions are colour blind ?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Pretty sure it's down to the biochemistry used to colour the hair. IIRC there's only two proteins to choose from in mammalian fur, for colouring.

Can I get a link to the Acouchi's greeness status please XC. I thought there wasn't any.

Its some small town zoo, I think.

Nope, no "green" in the description. I'm still not convinced.

Somebody give me the PC frequencies for "green", please. I wouldn't want to offend any fucking body.

Huh?

Just wondering what qualifies at green if that critter doesn't. I guess I don't know green. What light frequencies are allowable for green in this thread?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Yes How often is Zebraland green .......try spotting a zebra in a heat haze ....... try cutting a weak one out of a herd ......also Zebra stripes may set up thermals across the skin aid cooling ....... why wood a Zebra want to be green when lions are colour blind ?

I thought lions were dichromatic?

[tattuchu]

This creature is called the green monkey so it must be green.

I wanna fuck that monkey. Am I the only one who fancies monkeys? I can't be the only one. I like monkeys. They're cute (this kind, and certain kinds) and you can pet them while you're fucking them.

[Tigger]

This creature is called the green monkey so it must be green.

I wanna fuck that monkey. Am I the only one who fancies monkeys? I can't be the only one. I like monkeys. They're cute (this kind, and certain kinds) and you can pet them while you're fucking them.

Then there's that urban legend about how HIV started...

[Feck]

[Yes How often is Zebraland green .......try spotting a zebra in a heat haze ....... try cutting a weak one out of a herd ......also Zebra stripes may set up thermals across the skin aid cooling ....... why wood a Zebra want to be green when lions are colour blind ?

I thought lions were dichromatic?

another reason all the green zebra's got eaten ...

[RuleBritannia]

[Yes How often is Zebraland green .......try spotting a zebra in a heat haze ....... try cutting a weak one out of a herd ......also Zebra stripes may set up thermals across the skin aid cooling ....... why wood a Zebra want to be green when lions are colour blind ?

I thought lions were dichromatic?

another reason all the green zebra's got eaten ...

That doesn't make sense, even if lions had perfect vision for picking up green zebras, the fact that all the vegetation around them is also green means the zebra would blend in perfectly.

[Beelzebub2]

It seems that there are some greenish mammals after all:

Olive Colubus (Procolobus verus) - "greenish olive upperside, graduating to brown on the back."
Tantalus Monkey (Cercopithecus (aethiops) tantalus) - "grizzled, gold to greenish back and crown."
Putty-nosed Monkey (Cercopithecus (nictitans) nictitans) - "dark, grizzled olive fur."
House Bats (genus Scotophilus) - "Colouring varies from greenish olive and yellow to dark brown and off-white."

Lack of green colour might be related to mammals losing the ability to see colours that birds, reptiles and winged insects see vividly. Since colours are virtually impossible to see in the dark, mammals came to rely more on their noses than their eyes. Our cats and dogs can hold their nocturnal ancestors responsible for their poor colour vision and for their great sense of smell.

Primates, being diurnal, seem to have re-evolved colour vision. Colour vision gives you extra information about your environment when you're jumping from branch to branch. That humans see colours in the green-yellow region most acutely is a throwback to our days struggling to survive in the verdant wild.

The other idea is that it's due to mammals being hairy. Mammalian hair has only two kinds of pigment: one that produces black or brown hair and one that produces yellow or reddish-orange hair. Mixing those two pigments is never going to yield a bright, contestable green. Most fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds appear green because of a reflection of blue light coming through an over-layer of yellow pigment.

Perception of colour can also be affected by the surrounding environment. For example, broad leaf forests typically have a yellow-green light about them as the trees filter the light. Turacoverdin is one chemical which can cause a green hue in birds, especially. Invertebrates such as insects or molluscs often display green colours because of porphyrin pigments, sometimes caused by diet. Since most mammals are covered by fur or hair they cannot have the same arrangement of reflective layers of cells that fish, reptiles and amphibians have to display green colour. Turacoverdin is found in only a few bird species. Porphyrin is a chemical found in red blood cells. Since the body need to manufacture red blood cells constantly, perhaps mammals cannot afford to use some of the porphyrins available to them for green pigmentation. Insects can do that because they do not have red blood cells and do not need haemoglobin to transport oxygen.

Also small mammals - the ones needing protective colouration the most - typically live on the ground, scurrying in leaf litter, which is brown, and since most predators of mammals are other mammals, and mammals usually have poor colour vision; ergo, green wouldn't help.


More here, here and here.

[Animavore]

This creature is called the green monkey so it must be green.

I wanna fuck that monkey. Am I the only one who fancies monkeys? I can't be the only one. I like monkeys. They're cute (this kind, and certain kinds) and you can pet them while you're fucking them.

Then there's that urban legend about how HIV started...

It's not that much of an urban legend. There is evidence that HIV comes from the "bush meat" that African tribes eat and the blood that they get over themselves as they carry them over their shoulders although it seems more likely that the virus came from chimps than green monkeys as this video explains.

[Woodbutcher]

Sexual selection. Lady mammals did not see the green suitors 'cause they were too well camoflaged.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If you've ever been on a ship in a heavy sea you'd have seen a lot of green mammals.

[Epictetus]

The baboon-like mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) [please disregard the ape at the far right]:

A lot of color here, but unfortunately no green...

Kinda resembles those red, white, and blue popsicles I used to eat as a kid:

Incidentally, that monkey has a serious case of "blue balls" .

Somebody stop me...

[Deep Sea Isopod]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Slow post is slow. I already mentioned the tree sloth.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

Slow post is slow. I already mentioned the tree sloth.

The Sloth is slow too.