Nature at Night

Nature at Night goes into the dark corners of forest, jungle and ocean to find organisms that use luminescence for camouflage, mating, warding off predators or attracting prey. One of the organisms is not an animal but is vegetation: Foxfire Fungi glow to attract animals that will eat them and spread their pores through their scat and so help the plant to reproduce. The book includes well-known creatures like Fireflies, Eels and Lanternfish, but also three animals which, it has been recently discovered, use luminescence: Polka-Dot Tree Frogs, the only known amphibian to use biofluorescence; Puffins, which use ultraviolet light to make their beaks glow during courtship; and Hawksbill Turtles, one of the rarest species on our planet and the first reptile seen exhibiting biofluorescence.