Why is Rabbit Pee BLUE in the Winter?
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- QUICK CORRECTION: The leaves shown at 5:29 are actually an example of rhamnus frangula, (another type of buckthorn which IS native to North America) rather than rhamnus cathartica. Sorry for the mistake.
Table of Contents:
0:00 - Main video
9:33 - Postscript
10:37 - Quick update
Earlier this winter, I was out for a walk in our forest when I stumbled upon some blue patches in the snow. In this video, we find out what they were and why they were there.
For more information about Fred and Aleta:
www.doingnaturalhistory.com
aletakarstad.com
Oh!!! I am a sucker for more sciency stuff. Great video!
Hopefully Fred can be a frequent guest.
Thanks of the feedback Paul! I'm really glad you liked it!
I totally agree he should be a frequent guest! Intelligent, funny, and humble... who wouldn't want more of a person like that?!
Please interview Fred again. He is a treasure. Fascinating story. Thank you.
Very interesting. I used to use european buckthorn to dye wool various blueish green. Lived in North Gower. Thank you for such a great video.
Oh really?! Would you mind sharing (roughly) how that works?
@@BackToReality I will try to recreate my experiment just as soon as I find some of the plant matter. It as a really beautiful blue green.
Sounds great! I'd love to hear how you did it. Thanks!
Hi! I found that tortoise pee also can be blue. I have a tortoise which recently is fed with chicory leaves. And one day I found that it peed to water basin in its cage. The water turned blue. Was terrified at first that some chemical got inside and the tortoise may be poinsoned. But there was no trace. Then I stumbled upon your video. And it seems that water basin of the tortoise is directly below a UVb lamp that I has during the winter. So there has to be a chemical present both in chicory leaves and in buckthorne. And the chemical reacts with UV radiation turning blue. This may bring us a Little closer to solution.
As a homeschooling nature loving mama of an 8 yr old boy, I'm so grateful to incorporate your videos and insights into our educational screen time. Huge thanks and warm wishes from Kai & mama Rose winter 23'
Thanks Rose. I’m so glad that our videos have been useful for you both!
Thank you so much! I've been spotting blue patches out in the woods and had always assumed they were deer pee spots!
I love that the blue pee expert was so close by!! What are the chances? Also, you got a drone! :)
I know, eh!? I was completely shocked when I realized how close he was.
And yep, we DID get a drone. lol :)
The distribution of the tree probably helped narrow that range down.
lol, that's a pretty good point...
Can't thank you enough! I always learn so much! Hope spring hits you soon!
Thanks Laurie, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
I hope spring hits us soon too!! lol
Thank you for talking to an actual scientists! So many people would have just looked at a blog and not gone any further to look at their their sources, it's also so much more interesting when you can actually talk to the person that has done the research. Thank you!
I have a hedge of buckthorn in my backyard and I've been seeing the blue pee around too! I was curious, but hadn't looked it up yet. Thanks to you and Fred very much!
Glad we could help solve the mystery! :)
You always have the most interesting videos. 🤗🖖💕
Thanks so much! I'm really glad you liked it!
Fantastic video I really really enjoyed the interview. What a curious heart!!!
Thanks Emma, I'm really glad you enjoyed it! We hope to do more of these in the future.
What a lovely quirky human. Thank you.
Always happy to see, that you uploaded a new video. Even if its out of the ordinary ;)
Thanks Blackhuf, we really appreciate the support :)
Interesting. We have lots of rabbits, but infrequent snow cover in winter, and no buckthorn that I've seen. Would've driven me crazy if I'd randomly found this in the woods.
Wow! This was so interesting! I always enjoy your videos 😁
Thanks so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Wow. This is super cool! I would love to learn more from Fred!
Thanks for the feedback! We'll try to work with him again later this year!
Miss your videos, glad your still alive and well.
Unfortunately, our videos tend to take a pretty long while to produce. So they are sometimes fewer and farther between than we'd like. But we're not going anywhere. :)
@@BackToReality All of your videos are excellent, greatly appreciate all the time you guys put in to them.
I absolutely love your attention to detail, curiosity, and eagerness to find out things, with a scientist mindset!! Thank you for sharing with us!
If you can, collect some of that pee to send to the lab to make Mr. Schueler's day!! (I wonder if melting the blue snow would allow to detect the contents of the pee well enough...)
Great video as always!
Thanks Joshua!
Holy cow, thank you Fred!
I'm so glad you enjoyed hearing from Fred. We'll be trying to work with him on more videos in the future. :)
Amazing content as always. And it seems you made a firend!
I really enjoyed this video. Thank you.
Thanks Teresa! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate the feedback!
This is SO cool and interesting, thank you for sharing!🤗
Thanks Crina :)
I'm really glad that you enjoyed it!
This was fascinating in all its convolutions
I'm glad you liked it! :)
Interesting, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you liked it!
Such wonderful people. 💚
Very cool, love the content!
Thanks Jordan, I really appreciate that!
Loved it!
We can always count on an interesting topic!!!
I appreciate the vote of confidence! :)
And I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Great video!!! 🙏
Thanks Lydia! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
That’s crazy fascinating!
Thanks Cindy! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
It’s amazing there are things we don’t know.
Very interesting!
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
Love all of your videos and look forward to them. We are about 20 minutes from Bishops Mills. Didn't know about this magnificent couple. I am NOT a fan of the buckthorn...and yes we have plenty.
oh this was so good - very interesting! more please.
Oh awesome, I'm really glad you liked it!!
Bishop's Mills, I know that place I drove through it every Monday, and every Friday, On my way to and from work, refacing the Jones Falls Dam, back around 1990... I thought you were much further south than that!.
Oh wow, small world!
We'll have to pay a little closer attention to the Jones Falls Dam, the next time we're out that way!
please more videos like this!!
Ah, you solved the mystery. i saw the same blue pee spots in the snow this last month. First time in 10 years. We have lots of buckthorn and many rabbits.
Happy to help, Robert! :)
Very cool that you can confirm this (blue pee, specifically in the presence of buckthorn AND rabbits) on your own property as well!
I have seen this in the past in NH. Interesting!
Oh awesome! Were you able to find out what it was, at the time? Or if not, did you have any theories?
@@BackToReality like you, it had rabbit droppings nearby. So my guess was rabbits.
Even if you are doing only 3 videos a year, I will always watch you. Your video are so interesting and educative. Thank you very much!
Thank you for this comment! :)
These videos tend to take a lot of time and energy to produce, so I REALLY appreciate that you enjoy them and are always interested to watch.
That said, we'll also do our best to publish more than three per year. lol ;)
Thank you interesting 🙏🙏🙏
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! :)
Very interesting
Thanks!
Wow! No way!I cant believe i don't know this!i luv you guys everything ya'll do is just fantastic n ive learned so much!!I do have a question about groundhogs cuz my mama n her 6 kits under my porch...
Fascinating! I vaguely recall seeing blue pee years back as well but didn't look into it. I'll most certainly be keeping an eye out for it going forward and will have an answer as to why now! Thank you!
That's awesome! This is why I love learning these sorts of random tidbits. Now when I walk through the woods in the winter, there will be one less question mark to stumble upon. :)
@@BackToReality Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work! I really enjoy your videos 👍
Now that was interesting thanks🛠🇨🇦👍🇨🇦🇨🇦
Thanks Badge, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Sounds like an experiment for natural dyes needs to happen! Also accepting explanations from the chemists. But I do wonder what colors could be made with different mordants and fixatives
I LOVE this idea! Someday, I'd like to try to make our own "home grown" clothing, and this could be a really cool way of dying them!
I have dyed wool with indigo and it turns blue when exposed to air. It oxidizes fairly quickly. And they used to use urine to set the dye. I’d bet on the oxygen over the sunlight. I have to look up buckthorn now.
Oh, man. If I ever travel to your end of the province, I'm definitely visiting the Chaos Corners Center for the Study of One Thing or Another. 😀
They should totally start making T-Shirts. I'd buy one for sure! lol
@@BackToReality 😂😂 me too!
I adore your videos ,your entertaining and interesting . Would love to see more of Paula ,is she okay and just not wanting to be in the videos?
Interesting video, I hope someone gets this to a biochemist so they can isolate whatever the photoreactive compound is.
Definitely a fan of this new type of video, I always love new information. Though to be frank, I am here for the gardening and you guys' experience, so I'd still want that to be the majority of content. I definitely feel like the personal connection you describe at the start of this video helped ease me into the mindset for this. Had it just been "Hey guess what, blue rabbit pee exists and here's kinda why" I'd have questioned why this was on a channel about homesteading.
That said I know you guys pivot content whenever it suits you and your lifestyle; just giving my view of things as a semi-self aware content consumer.
Loved the video, Thanks! I'm not going outside looking for blue pee :)
Lol, Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed it :)
More videos like this one please!
Feels like Adam Ragusea of outside
That is some seriously high praise! Thank you for such a complimentary comparison :)
We hope to do more videos like this in the future!
Yeah but is he a DILF?
Omg, I've seen this blue snow, I thought it looked like a blue slushie or radiator coolant.
Oh awesome, I'm glad I could answer the riddle for you then! :)
Thank you for taking the time to share knowledge. It is thoroughly enjoyed and greatly appreciated. More Informative videos would be very nice, but the one about the most important tool in the garden being the metal detector was equally enjoyable. We look forward to spring and all of the exploratory thought that it brings. Happy planting.
Thanks so much for this feedback!
I'm really glad that you enjoy this type of content!
I didn’t know that was a thing at all and im a huge animal nerd
prior to this winter, I had no idea either! :)
i dont know but i love drinking it
Natural indigo from dyers woad is yellow initially and then sets in the sun blue.
Interesting!
I wonder if there is a similar chemical reaction happening here then?
Could that be the wild forest creature version of Ex-Lax. . . .??? I've heard it said that dogs often eat grass to "clean out their stomachs." Maybe this is the same effect? 🤔
Dude. You gotta try it. Science demands it.
You know, when people ask me what kind of cool and interesting videos I watch on RUclips, I've never been able to say "Well, I just watched a 12 minute video on oddly colored Canadian rodent urine"... Until now, that is.
Thanks for helping check that one off my bucket list! Can't wait to see what's next!
LOL!
I'm happy to be of service :)
Neat! This scientist is like a druid :)
lol
I really enjoyed chatting with Fred, and hope to again in the near future. It was pretty clear right off the bat, that he had A LOT of information to share.
Huh.
Beeing a curious gardener I allways love to expand my horizon and learn something. Especially unexpected feces info 😆. Scientists are fantastic
I feel EXACTLY the same way :)
I've been noticing blue spots in the snow too! I have several pics of it on my camera because I was meaning to figure out what it is. We definitely have buckthorn too, so makes sense. Thanks for solving the mystery for us!
Happy to be of service!! :)
I saw a small pile of rabbit poop with that blue ring just yesterday!
Oh, no way! That's quite the coincidence! Well then, I guess this video was timed perfectly! :)
@@BackToReality I know😆 I was thinking for a second that google was listening again but I never spoke of it to anyone, haha. It was just a coincidence.
I'll have to look up buckthorn...I have alot more bunny tracks in the woods this year for sure. Are they ok to hunt still if they've been eating it?
@@jswhosoever4533 We don't hunt, so that one I'm not sure about.
Can we see the campervan again? Great vid :)
Hi Nathan. We've thought about making a "for old times' sake" update video about VANessa. Maybe this summer... :)
@@BackToReality Amazing! Been following you since the trip across Canada. Im glad to know you still have the old van!
Oh wow, that's so great! Thanks so much for staying with us during the transition from vanlife to... whatever it is that we do now! lol
You bet we still have the van. I don't think we'd ever part with her, at this point. :)
This is great information indeed, when I was using plant material as natural dye for wool I was advised to get the bark of alder buckthorn for its dye property I never did get any. Very interesting great video.
Thanks Florie, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Do you happen to know how to use the buckthorn bark to produce dye? I would love to experiment with that!
Perhaps the pressure of large rabbit populations in winter has caused some rabbits to specialize in the consumption of common buckthorn resulting in them eating this plant even when unnecessary
Oh, that's a really interesting theory!
👍👍👍👍👍
Ok so I just stumbled upon your video when I was trying to figure out my own mystery lol last night I was outside and took a picture of my dog. This mysterious blue ribbon showed up in the photo. I took a second photo thinking something was wrong and it was there again I moved closer and took a photo and then it didn’t show up. I was kinda weirded out for a bit as it was around 1 am and I was outside alone in the dark lol Anyway I was thinking about it and this morning I can to the idea that it might be somehow rabbit related as I know about the blue pee in the winter thing and I do have some rabbit regulars that are around my apartment. So I was wondering if anyone ever heard of this? Lol kinda weird I guess wondering if anyone has every taken a picture of rabbit pee in late winter at night lol
It looks to me as if the wildlife have found a natural laxative/something to help pass stones in the urinary track...probably didn't start out that way...Animals probably first consumed the Buckthorn due to not having any other choice in hard winters...but discovered that although it didn't hurt them it made them have to go(similar to how coffee works for a lot of humans)
Just a thought.
This is a really interesting thought! So, that would mean: 1 part food scarcity, and 1 part learned behavior. I wonder how that theory could be explored, in a natural setting?
Porphyrin turns blue in sunlight.
"Don't eat yellow snow, or blue, or red snow, or..."
A better phrasing is probably: "Only eat white snow!"
Or maybe even better: "Don't eat colored snow"
But then, what about black snow? Technically both white & black isn't "colors" (at least in some cases), but is a mixture of all or no colors, but i would still advice against eating black snow too.
So, again: "Only eat white snow!" ;P
LOL! I think you're right. At this point, "only eat white snow" is probably the best advice. ;)
@@BackToReality :D
You’ve found the alien that eats bunny poop..
Lol just kidding
LOL
I've never noticed blue pee in the snow before. Of course I live in South Carolina so its probably not gonna happen! Thank you for your videos. I know they are a lot of work.
lol, yeah, the conditions are likely QUITE a bit different down where you live. :)
I'm really glad you enjoyed the video.
Your early winter patch might be a younger and less experienced forager learning the hard way why buckthorn should only be a meal of last resort.
I freaked out seeing red pee from my rabbits but relized it was frombeet tos
I seen this and I being in Wisconsin city thst the rabbits eat my salt thst melts snow.i didn't see this in video .if this is true the rabbits were alive and well
Buckthorn might be used medicinally by the rabbits.
This might be related to how blueprints are done.
We'll have to look into that!
@@BackToReality ruclips.net/video/0e8CMbHfLxM/видео.html&ab_channel=NileRed
and here i thought that they were just cold 🤓✌👌🖖👍😎
LOL!
Because it's almost Easter?
Lol, I hadn't thought of THAT!
🤓✌👌🖖👍😎
If he needs any chemistry samples, I'm looking for a thesis XP
I'll let him know, lol
Your-A-Peein Blue Buckthorn
LOL
The part about the pee turning from yellow/brown to blue after exposure to UV made me think of this NileRed video. I would bet that some of the same chemistry is happening.
ruclips.net/video/0e8CMbHfLxM/видео.html
Oh interesting, I'll check it out. Thanks!
Cool. I think you’ve figured it out.
Because everyone know not to eat the yellow snow rabbits are hey blue snow cones
Crafty little critters, aren't they? lol
I'm gonna eat some Buckthorn and see what happens...I'll put up with a bit of "purge" just to see blue pee😆😂😁
I MUST advise against this! lol
Though I'm also rather curious...
@@BackToReality I hear ya, still going to try it as soon as I find some in Southern Oregon 😁
Pictures will be provided 🙄
@@bigboss-tl2xr Lol, I can appreciate your self-sacrifice in the name of science. That said, please also be careful. :)
@@BackToReality For sure, Im not looking for any liver or kidney damage so a little research IS in order....but c'mon, how cool is blue pee!? Hahahaha We'll see!
Why not just cage a rat and feed it bark?
Better yet, cage a rabbit, collect urine, then feed buckthorn and collect more. Send the samples off in lightproof containers to be opened only under yellow light for analysis, then expose them to UV and look for color changes and reanalyze. Any decent laboratory can do this.
Much more useful and cheaper than either hospital stay or funeral.
That’s just sonic the hedgehog pee.
Because they're robots and need antifreeze added to them when you winterize them.
Lol, that MUST be it!
@@BackToReality 😂
Aren't they a hair and not a rabbit
Hares (and other animals as well) also leave blue pee in the snow - for the same reason. :)
I think hares are larger. I could be wrong of course. 🤗🖖
@@rainydaylady6596 Hares are larger, longer legs and longer ears.
Please, please can we start calling this blurine?
wait wut?
lol, weird eh?
Could be a hormones or an estrus sign? Adding to the chemistry.
Animals such as horses will have a significant change in urine colour (yellow to red) as the days grow longer and heat cycles begin.
Have a ton of that on my property. We call it "fuckthorn". Get rid of that plant as quickly as you can.
exposure to the sun. Interesting... sort of like the ancient source of royal purple dye... and ugly gray fermented smelly mess that goes purple after exposure to light.
Good comparison! It reminds me of the Marcus Aurelius quote "...that this noble vintage is grape juice, and the purple robes are sheep wool dyed with shellfish blood."
I was not aware that sunlight was involved in the process, but a quick google search just confirmed it: "The dye was greatly prized in antiquity because the colour did not easily fade, but instead became brighter with weathering and sunlight."
Fascinating! I had no idea, so thanks for sharing!
Coming from eating too many blue m&m's.
LOL
The botanist guy looks like he’s a tree