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Cool experiment:
- Take one polar bear.
- Make sure it has some sort of skin condition.
- Give it a medication for said skin condition that will tint the polar bear's snowy white fur an alarming shade of purple (depending on the light, as dark as Pantone 2715 or as light as Pantone 2587).
- Turn purple polar bear into the biggest attraction at the zoo.
Pelusa the Purple Polar Bear at an Argentianian zoo. [Via Reuters & Yahoo]
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My goodness. Looks like my hair color in 1991.
The only thing that can be said is WOW!
Video of Pelusa in action (3rd story): http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/17/national/main563855.shtml
That poor bear! Right now it is saying, "I do not want to be purple, though!"
I like it!
It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, when the horses were all technocolor punk. They created that effect by dying the horses with jello mix, and the horses would lick the mix/dye after the shoot.
Am I the only conspiracy theorist here that thinks it ain't so?
Polar bear fur isn't actually white. It's transparent with a hollow core. Polar bears in the san diego zoo once turned green because of algae growing in the core of their hair. Funny the things that stay with you after being a sea world tour guide...
When I was little, I loved carrots. That's all I ate. The doctor told my mom I would turn yellow and my mom replied, "So? She IS already yellow."
Gentian Violet is a real medication used mainly to treat fungal infections of the skin and mucus membranes. It's a bit "old school" - I remember it as being one of those old, crusty bottles in the back of my parents' medicine cabinet, between the Witch Hazel and the Tincture of Iodine - but it's cheap and pretty non-toxic, so it's perfect for treating an animal.
Dammit, that's twice now.
This is all very fascinating. Look ma, I'm learning!
The yellowing of skin related to excessive consumption of carrots (or other carotene rich foods) is known as carotenemia. It's not considered a health risk, but if you have it, your doctor will probably recommend that you decrease your carrot intake. Ask The Dietitian points out that carotenes, which come from vegetable sources, are not considered toxic whereas the form of Vitamin A we get from animal sources (retinol) can be in large doses. The site points out that "One ounce of polar bear liver contains enough Vitamin A (retinol) to kill a person!" thus bringing our story full circle.
Amazing work, Justin, amazing. I'm glad that a strange story from my youth could help bookend this discussion.
Unbelievable!
LOL...she is just too cute!
Why do polar bears have so much vit a in their livers? Does it serve some purpose or is it just a by product of eating seal?
I think they should not put this beautiful bear in such a small enclousure.Just because the medicen may come off,dosn't mean you should keep her from swimming.
Morons. You talk like morons. Why do you even post most of this shit? And for the record, technicolor is spelled with an I!