This is more in the nature of a question than a crackpot solution but: Why are there no animals with green fur? You would think it would be a handy colour since there is so much greenery around in which, you'd think, furry animals might like to secrete themselves. I know there is a kind of sloth which promotes the growth of some kind of algae in its fur but the is only goes to prove the desirability of green as a colour for fur. Birds and reptiles and fish and insects and all kinds of invertabrates do green no problem, why not us mammals? I suppose we could,these days, breed some, though if they ever escaped they would be hard to track down. I for one would love to have the niegborhoods first green cat. (I've got another debate brewing - hair or fur, Dog = Hair/ Cat=Fur, is there a real differance and WHY!!!!... but frankly one needs to get a life!) mrmarkcairns@hotmail.com-- Arnold Grunchfuttock, Apr 01 2006 the nearest you might get. http://www.lookout-...om/photos/wild7.jpg [po, Apr 01 2006] Maybe. maybe not. http://wcco.com/wat...tory_313204722.html [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 01 2006] you might like to try this wallpaper as an illustration of 2fries' meaning http://codefromthe7...desktopearth_dl.asp [po, Apr 01 2006] Green kitten (left) http://www.messybeast.com/freak-skin.htmCaused by water polluted with copper. [jutta, Apr 01 2006] Welcome to the halfbakery. I seem to remember that blue and green in feathers are structural colours, produced by the thin-film interference rather than blue or green pigments. This may explain why these colours have not evolved in hair of fur.-- spidermother, Apr 01 2006 they'd lose their babies in the grass which is not an evolutionary clever thing to do.-- po, Apr 01 2006 Unless the critter lives near the equator it would stand out like a sore thumb in the winter.
There is a news story about a pup born with green fur [link] but it could be a hoax.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 01 2006 I have actually wondered about this myself. It is possible that if something had brown or gray fur, it could blend in just about anywhere. Green would be limited to tropical rainforests. And some sloths do have grren fur, but that's because they have algae living in their fur.-- craziness, Apr 01 2006 Hmmm, does my bum look big in this light?-- The Kat, Apr 01 2006 is it minks that go white in winter?-- po, Apr 02 2006 Some sloths look green because they have moss growing in their fur.-- 5th Earth, Apr 02 2006 Ermine, po. I think stoats and weasels both do it.-- gnomethang, Apr 02 2006 I knew it was an expensive fur
<throws green paint around just for the hell of it>-- po, Apr 02 2006 Allegedly, most other mammals don't see colors, which is why hunters get away with wearing blaze orange. So fur color really doesn't matter--tigers and zebras are examples of that.
Having contributed to this discussion, I can't give a fishbone for the lack of idea. Damn my ego.-- baconbrain, Apr 03 2006 Snowshoe hares also change from Brown to white in winter.-- jhomrighaus, Apr 04 2006 Not necessarily. Telekinesis would be rather handy, yet I have not seen it outside human imagination.-- methinksnot, Apr 04 2006 I've seen cheese with green fur, if that helps.-- Ling, Apr 04 2006 I noticed quite a few of the swimmers at the Commonwealth Games with verdant-hued hair, but I suspect this is more to do with chlorine than evolution.-- coprocephalous, Apr 04 2006 random, halfbakery