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Brief Communications
Nature 429, 363 (27 May 2004) | doi:10.1038/429363a
Pigment chemistry: The red sweat of the hippopotamus
Yoko Saikawa1, Kimiko Hashimoto1,2, Masaya Nakata1, Masato Yoshihara3, Kiyoshi Nagai3, Motoyasu Ida3 & Teruyuki Komiya3
Abstract
The red and orange pigments in this secretion account for its protective properties.
Abstract
Within a few minutes of perspiration, the colourless, viscous sweat of the hippopotamus gradually turns red, and then brown as the pigment polymerizes. Here we isolate and characterize the pigments responsible for this colour reaction. The unstable red and orange pigments turn out to be non-benzenoid aromatic compounds that are unexpectedly acidic and have antibiotic as well as sunscreen activity.
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type Exception report
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description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.
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javax.servlet.ServletException: Servlet execution threw an exception
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java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
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Apache Tomcat/5.0.7
