Subject: Acquired colors (was: Re: Ross' Gull)
Date: Dec 11 15:27:12 1994
From: Burton Guttman - guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu



On Sun, 11 Dec 1994, Mike Patterson wrote, "Ross's Gulls and flamingos are
pink because of the shrimpy things," and Katie Sauter said, "Sea otters'
(_enhydra lutra_) teeth are pink for the same reason -- a fact that came
in very handy on mammalogy exams -- it never occured to me that sea
otters and flamingos could have so much in common! Yes, nature is
indeed wonderful." Well, humans can do it too! I keep recommending a
long series of short (true) stories by the late Berton Roueche that he
called "narratives of medical detection"; one of them, _The Orange
Man_, is about a man with bright orange skin who comes to a physician's
office. The doctor is amazed, but the man's complaint is about
something else, and he doesn't even think about his skin color. When the
doctor inquires about his condition, it turns out that he and his wife
both have this color skin and that they've both been eating enormous
amounts of carrots and tomatoes. The carotenoids and lycopenes that
color these vegetables have accumulated in their skin.

The flamino story is an old one. I didn't know about the gull and the
otters. Are there any other stories like this?

Burt Guttman guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College Voice: 206-866-6000, x. 6755
Olympia, WA 98505 FAX: 206-866-6794