Oh, Rudolph. Everyone's favorite Christmas time poster child for bullying. Have you ever wondered how his nose glowed so bright, that he was able to guide Santa's sleigh that night? @suesa piqued my interest with his Science Challenge #3 - A Very Science Christmas, and I have come up with a plausible explanation. You may not like this, and you may never see your favorite reindeer the same again, but here we go...

Image Credit: Good Times Entertainment via Wikipedia

Can animals even really glow?

Animals, yes. Mammals, unfortunately not. You have likely heard the term bioluminescence. It's essentially light produced by chemical reactions in a living organism. There are many forms, and many different types of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria can produce this light.

The magnitude of light that is given off widely ranges among organism that exhibit the trait. Some organisms like Foxfire, a type of fungus, can be luminous enough to read a book in the dark! Bioluminescence is very common in marine life from numerous types of plankton, to jellyfish and others. It's much rarer on land, but terrestrial bioluminescence can be found in a number of organisms. Certain arthropods like beetles and a few types of centipedes and millipedes, like the Motyxia, can produce the chemical glow.

Mammals, however, have never been seen to exhibit any form of bioluminescence. Scientists were able to create glowing mice using salmonella bacteria, but the glow came from the bacteria, not the mice.

So if Rudolph isn't bioluminescent, how can his nose glow?

Here's where it starts to get weird... Knowing that mammals can't be/aren't bioluminescent led me to look at organisms that are, and things like diseases and other things that can affect a deer's nose. What I found will surely give me nightmares, but in the pursuit of science, I persisted. You have been warned.

The most fitting of what I looked through would have to be Nasal bots("Graphic" material warning). These are little flies that will plant their larvae in the nostrils of a deer, sheep, or other animals. The larvae work their way through the nasal cavity, taking up home in the animal's head. When they mature a bit, they are literally sneezed out, where they burrow into the ground to pupate into their adult form.
(Fun Fact: After emerging from the ground as adults, these flies have no mouth parts. They essentially have to breed and starve to death...)

Around a dozen species of Mycetophilidae are the only type of flies that display bioluminescence. Nasal bots aren't Mycetophilidae, so here's where we start to get into some hypotheticals.

Imagine a species of nasal bots that have for whatever reason adapted or mutated to glow bright red... If Rudolph had been infested with these glowing fly larvae, it could explain the colorful display his nose resonates that he is known so well for.

I really wish there were another way, but after the reading I've done all day, the most plausible explanation I can come to is glowing maggots...

Science isn't always pretty,

and it certainly doesn't work the way the fairy tales we hear this time of year do. Everything is so clean and simple when magic is the answer, but the real world is never so simple. Sometimes you've just got to get out of your comfort zone, and give yourself nightmares, to learn something new.

Feel free to use the Christmas themed page divider I made for this post. I only ask that you give me credit the first time you use it, then it's yours to keep!

If you enjoyed reading this article, consider upvoting and/or resteeming it. I try very hard to deliver quality, original content, and often my posts fly under the radar. I'm still a growing minnow (actually just a redfish), and I could use all the help I can get! Now that I've gotten that out of the way, you have yourself a wonderful day!