DO RATS URINE CONTAIN ULTRA VIOLET AND IS THIS WHY HAWKS CAN TRACE THEM

Question: DO RATS URINE CONTAIN ULTRA VIOLET AND IS THIS WHY HAWKS CAN TRACE THEM

Asked by mspeirs96 to Joe, Nick on 24 Mar 2010 in Categories: General.
- Nick Bradshaw answered on 24 Mar 2010:
  
  I don’t think that actually urine produces ultraviolet light, but it does have an “ultraviolet colour” that can be seen if there is enough UV light of the correct freuqency around.
- Joseph Devlin answered on 24 Mar 2010:
  
  Thankfully I’ve never had a rat pee on me at a nightclub with black lights, so I don’t know. And I wasn’t aware that hawks saw into the ultra-violet. So I completely failed on this one… 🙁

modshamini commented on 26 Mar 2010:

The urine of many rodents reflects UV light and when birds like hawks see this they can use it to follow the paths of the mice and rats far below in the grass!
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0708_030708_ultravioletmammals.html
Joe commented on 26 Mar 2010:

That’s awesome (and freaky). Thanks Shamini!

Question: DO RATS URINE CONTAIN ULTRA VIOLET AND IS THIS WHY HAWKS CAN TRACE THEM