News Animals

In a first, these bats were found to have toes that glow

Hairs on the feet of Mexican free-tailed bats fluoresce under UV light

The very hairy back feet of a Mexican free-tailed bat light up under ultraviolet light. This image shows just the back half of a bat next to a ruler for scale.

Under an ultraviolet light, toe structures on this Mexican free-tailed bat glow a brilliant cyan.

F. Gual-Suárez

By Jason Bittel

You’ve heard of jazz hands? Well, these bats have glow toes.

When ultraviolet light shines onto the Mexican free-tailed bat’s extraordinarily hairy toes, they light up like a Christmas tree. That’s because the animals have bristly structures that are capable of UV-induced photoluminescence, researchers report August 8 in Mammalian Biology.