Southeastern pocket gophers glow, but no one knows why

A sedated Southeastern pocket gopher fluorescing under black light. After learning about other glowing mammals, biologist JT Pynne decided to turn the UV flashlight on his specialty, pocket gophers.

Courtesy of JT Pynne

Southeastern pocket gophers have a strange secret, only recently uncovered by scientists: They glow.

The burrowing rodents spend most of their lives underground in the tunnels they dig in South Georgia and neighboring states.

But stick one under a blacklight, and it lights up.