Sahara sand chickens protect their chicks in special ways. How do they feed water?

Gibbon in Southeast Asia scooped water with two claws, while other apes squatted by the water and bent down to drink water.

Photography: Gerry Ellis, Minden Pictures/National Geographic Creativity

Author: Liz Langley

There is something, mysterious words look ordinary, ordinary words are precious, without which no matter what kind of life form can survive. After a long talk, Bian Xiao didn't sell it. This mysterious thing is water. Every life needs water, but people consume it in different ways.

There are some unique drinking styles of different animals here, but cocktails are not among them.

Wang xingren licks water

Don, director of Oregon Zoo, said: "Monkeys and other apes mainly drink water by bending over.

Moore said. However, it is a "very cool behavior" for gibbons in Southeast Asia to scoop water with two claws, especially when these "acrobats" drink water upside down in a tree, which looks very cool.

In Namibia, a female sand chicken dipped her abdominal feathers into a puddle.

Photography: FRANS LANTING, National Geographic Creative

When Wang Xingren drinks water, he will also roll his tongue into the cup.

When Wang Xingren drinks water, he will roll his tongue into a spoon with a long handle and face himself. Water flows into Wang Xingren's mouth along the "long handle" of the spoon.

When snakes drink water, "it seems that they have done nothing, but in fact, many things have happened behind them," Moore said.

Research by David Cundall from Lehigh University and his colleagues found that some snakes drink water by capillary action, which is the same mechanism that water enters the leaves from the roots of plants.

A snake has skin wrinkles on its chin, which can expand or contract according to the size of its prey. When a snake puts its mouth into the water, these skin wrinkles will expand and absorb the liquid like a sponge through capillary action, and then the muscles will squeeze the water into the intestine.

Water in the desert

When water resources are scarce, animals will come up with creative ways to drink water.

Sand grouse is a close relative of pigeons, mainly distributed in arid areas of Africa, Madagascar, southern Europe, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The way male sand chickens feed their chicks with water is very strange, which was once thought to be a myth.

Every day, the male sand chicken will come to a puddle and sit in the water and keep swinging back and forth. In fact, it is absorbing water with abdominal feathers, which have coiled feather branchlets and are very absorbent. The water absorption of sand chicken's abdominal feathers can reach 38 grams, while that of other birds is only 0.006 grams.

After that, the sand chicken father will return to the nest and solve the drinking water problem for the children with feathers filled with water.

Australian Spinosaurus used grooves on the skin surface to collect dew, and then introduced water into its mouth through capillary action.

Photography: Michael, Patricia Fogden, Minden Pictures/National Geographic Creativity

Australian spinosaurus can be as long as 20 cm. "They mainly collect morning dew through their skin, and then water drips into their mouths through grooves in the skin, and then Spinosaurus drinks it," Moore said. It is also believed that spiny lizards will burrow into wet sand and absorb water in the same way.

A study on 20 16 also found that echinoderms also drink water through their feet. The microstructure between the scary scales of Echinosaurus can absorb water from wet sand through capillary action like a small straw.

Other desert animals suck water directly from the air.

"The exoskeleton of Namibian desert beetles has a complex microstructure and can collect dew from the air," said Katie Prudic, an entomologist at the University of Arizona.

When the desert is foggy (about 6 times a month), the Namibian desert beetle will turn its ass upside down to the sky, let the microstructure on its back absorb water from the air, and then slowly flow into its mouth along its back.

Built-in straw

"Fuck plastic straws," Prudic said. Butterflies "have their own unique straws", and they can suck nectar through this long straw.

However, some insects are not vegetarians. They will eat other insects.

Adult Chrysopa is a beautiful little insect. "But in the larval stage, they can be called terrorists," Prudic said, especially for aphids.

"Chrysopa's palate is a hollow straw. They will go straight to an aphid, pierce it directly and suck it dry. "

This is the ultimate protein milkshake.