7 animals that misuse body parts

1. Caring frog rheobatrachus gives birth through the mouth

The caring frog of the genus Rheobatrachus got its name due to the fact that it is very responsible for parental responsibilities. She bears her cubs, as they say, in the mother's womb.

This is completely normal for us mammals, but self-respecting amphibians usually spawn, fertilize it and forget about the offspring. The caring frog took a different path.

After the male fertilizes the eggs, the parent swallows them and incubates them in the stomach for at least six weeks.

Ibid appearM. J. Tyler, D. b. Carter. Oral birth of the young of the gastric brooding frog Rheobatrachus silus / Animal Behavior tadpoles. They grow in the mother's stomach, feeding on the yolk from spare caviar.

The frog itself does not eat during "pregnancy" so as not to secrete gastric juice with hydrochloric acid. In addition, it begins to breathe more intensively with the skin. The fact is that her main way of breathing - through her mouth - becomes impossible: the offspring stretches the stomach so much that it presses on the lungs.

Then the tadpoles turn into frogs, and only then the female regurgitates them. She "gives birth" with her mouth cubs at a calm pace for about a week, with breaks for rest. But if disturb her, the offspring will be erupted on an emergency basis so that the children have time to scatter.

2. Chinese trionyx urinates in the throat

Giving birth through the mouth is a very eccentric act, but some animals can go even further. For example, the Chinese trioniks, or the Far Eastern tortoise. This reptile's shell is not hard, but soft, leathery. But this is not its main difference from relatives.

Trionyx in the throat situatedF. Bonin. Turtles of the World special papillae - bundles of outgrowths of the mucous membrane. The reptile uses them like gills. It's an additional way of breathing, useful when she can't get to the surface. Shellfish are generally masters of inventing strange methods to take a sip of oxygen - we have already told how another species, the turtle from the Mary River, breathing booty.

However, in Trionics, the mucous throat is used not only for breathing, but also for the excretion of urea.

Yes, this reptile literally urinates through its throat. Moreover, the purer the water in the reservoir, the less oftenF. Bonin. Turtles of the World the animal does this - apparently, it does not want to spoil its habitat.

The turtle is so accustomed to excreting urea with its mouth that it simply cannot do otherwise. In addition, she is only able to do this in water, so that it washes the papillae in her throat. Otherwise, the discharge will remain inside, and this, as you understand, is unpleasant.

Trionix also feels good on land: it runs quite briskly for a turtle, and also fights and bitesif you take it in hand. But he prudently does not depart from the water. And if the Chinese Far Eastern tortoise is removed from the reservoir, it willTurtles Urinate via Their Mouths - A First / National Geographic look for any puddle to put your head down and piss corny.

Scientists at the National University of Singapore believe this ability should be explored because it could help people with kidney failure.

Researcher Yuen Yip claimsTurtles Urinate via Their Mouths - A First / National Geographicthat if the active mechanisms of urea excretion by mouth can be stimulated in humans, thousands of patients chained to apparatus hemodialysisable to live a full life. They just have to rinse their mouth a little more often than usual.

3. The sea spider breathes and reproduces with its feet.

The sea spider is an interesting arthropod, which, however, is not an arachnid. This tramp resembles a haymaker from your dacha. Only the length of his legs reaches 50 centimeters and he lives not in the attic, but at the bottom of the ocean.

Long limbs allowed the spider to become a good sea hunter, eating polyps and other bottom dwellers. And this same feature brings him a lot of problems.

A heart pumping hemolymph in a spider beatsH. A. woods. Respiratory gut peristalsis by sea spiders / Current Biology like crazy - 180 strokes in a minute. However, the legs are scattered too far, and the normal circulatory system cannot provide pressure. To move the hemolymph along the limbs, the spider periodically jerks them intensively, but this is not enough. Therefore, you have to help the heart at the expense of the digestive tract.

The intestines of the sea spider are located not only in the belly, it also has a process in each leg.

This allows the legs to be supplied with nutrients independently of each other. And bowel contractions additionally distilledSea spiders / PostScience blood in adjacent vessels.

The spider does not have a respiratory system at all. It absorbs oxygen from the water with its feet, and through the hemolymph it is transported throughout the body.

Limbs marine Spider not only breathe, but also breedsSea Spiders Pump Blood With Their Guts, Not Their Hearts / The Atlantic - one pair of them also serves as reproductive organs. Females secrete eggs (with their feet) and give them to males. They fertilize them (also with their feet), and then drag them (again on their feet) with them. And not only eggs, but also ready-made offspring. The father takes care of the spiders until they grow up and get off him.

4. Darwin's bat walks on fins

Usually fish use their fins to to swim in the water, but Darwin's bat, which lives off the coast of the Galapagos Islands and Peru, has a different view on this matter. His buoyancy is unimportant, but he is extremely cheerful. movesCarl L. Hubbs. Ogcocephalus darwini, a New Batfish Endemic at the Galápagos Islands / Copeia along the bottom on foot.

The fish looks like it's about to evolve into something terrestrial.

The bat belongs to the order of anglerfish, which are also called monkfish. Like its deep-sea relatives, it has a luminous organ on its head that lures prey directly to its open mouth. Darwin's bat usually lives in shallow water, but sometimes it can come up to the surface.

Gorgeous red lips in these fish possessS. Bayly. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of ‘Ugly’ Animals males - females look more modest. During spawning, males walk around with the help of developed pectoral fins in front of their ladies, making their lips a tube, and this impresses their girlfriends very much. In addition, a bright mouth helps the latter to distinguish boyfriends from any suspicious predators.

5. Drosophila tastes with their feet, wings, and sex organs.

When people try taste something appetizing, like nut butter, they touch the treat with their tongues. But if you were a fruit fly, or a fruit fly, you could smear yourself with paste. Or point your finger at it.

Sensitive taste neurons that we have on the tongue, in fruit flies scatteredA fly's taste experience is much like ours / UC Berkeley throughout the body - not only on the proboscis, but also on the legs, wings, and even on the ovipositor. This allows a fly to sit on an object and immediately determine whether it is worth eating or, well... In general, whether it is suitable for love affairs.

Drosophila do not feel the taste like we do, but bitter and sweet are distinguished with a bang. The latter they prefer more.

The common houseflies that plague us in the summer also have chemoreceptorsQ&A; Gleeful Flies? / The New York Times on foot. That's why they clean them all the time: it's unpleasant, you know, to step on something nasty when you have six feet and each language.

6. Horned viper lures prey with its tail

Most snakes use their tails for locomotion, but the horned spider viperb. Fathinia. Notes on the Natural History of Pseudocerastes urarachnoides (Squamata: Viperidae) / Russian Journal of Herpetology from Iran found a more useful use for it. As the name suggests, the tip of her body, opposite her head, resembles a spider.

The appendages on the scales move when the viper crawls, and this imitates the movements of an arthropod. At the same time, she herself is not noticeable in the sand due to the camouflage color.

Birds, in particular larks, see such a disgrace and think that this is an appetizing spider.

The feathered one dives and grabs "prey". Snake instantly turns and swallows the bird that bought into her trick.

Such behavior calledR. R. Jackson, F. R. cross. A cognitive perspective on aggressive mimicry — Jackson / Journal of Zoology “tail baiting”, and almost fifty species of snakes use it without a twinge of conscience. For example, boas and pythons, hanging from a branch, waving their tails invitingly. Birds fly to devour this appetizing worm and become dinner themselves. In some species, even the tails are brighter colored than the rest of the body.

But in most snakes, only young individuals do this. The spider-tailed horned viper, on the other hand, practices bait fishing all the time.

Especially often its prey becomeb. Fathinia. Avian deception using an elaborate caudal lure in Pseudocerastes urarachnoides (Serpentes: Viperidae) / Amphibia‑Reptilia migratory birds. The locals, Iranians, have learned from bitter experience and, before hunting spiders, they look: is it not tied to a snake for an hour?

7. Musk deer attracts females with a saber-toothed smile

As you know, large branched antlers help deer to demonstrate their dominance over females. The Siberian musk deer, their distant relative, cannot boast of such decoration. And the males of this species had to acquire other attributesFanged Deer Not Extinct, Still Roaming the Mountains of Afghanistan / Smithsonian Magazine masculinity.

Fangs, reminiscent of the weapon of a saber-toothed tiger, help female musk deer choose the coolest suitors for themselves. Who has more teeth - that main handsome man.

From a nutritional point of view, teeth not very useful: these artiodactyls eat mostly lichens, so they don’t need to hunt and tear apart someone. But musk deer regularly pounceD. A. Maksimova. Research Program of Musk Deer Ecology in the Sikhote‑Alin Region / Achievements in the Life Sciences on other males during the mating season and mutilate them by plunging fangs into the body.

In this case, the tooth can break off, causing serious injury to the victim. Which, most likely, will not be very good for both the loser and the winner - a suitor with teeth is better than without them. Female musk deer, by the way, are also extremely aggressive and fight each other for nothing. True, they have to fight only with their hooves - they have no fangs.