Photonic Colored Creatures

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Animals and plants come in a dizzying array of colors. Current research is cracking into the remarkable structures behind nature's artistic display.

By Cristina Luiggi | February 1, 2013

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Complex nanostructures within the scales of the Ulysses butterfly’s wings help enhance the absorption of light by pigments found in the scales—resulting in an ultra-black and opaque surface.

WIKIMEDIA, MELBOURNE ZOO

The white scarab beetle's body is covered in flat scales that contain an interconnected filamentary structure organized in an entirely random geometry. The absence of a light absorbing pigment in those scales means that a lot of the incident light is reflected toward the observer and all the wavelengths are scattered by the same amount—resulting in a brilliant white.

The mandrill owes its bright blue muzzle and rump to Tyndall scattering, the scattering of shorter-wavelength light—largely blue—by particles suspended in a medium.

The scrotum of the vervet monkey gets its blue hue from a thin layer of collagen, a few millimeters thick and arranged in triple helices, resting on top of the upper skin layer.

The newly discovered lesula monkey is another primate that displays structural colors on its rump (not pictured).

Photonic Colored Creatures Image Gallery

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nelsonn

Posts: 1

February 6, 2013

There are many such animals and birds that have varied colors on their body. Most of the color variation is found in birds and butterflies.

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