Meet the bird that refuses to die
https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscienti...es-to-die/
INTRO: Fossils reveal that an extinct species of flightless bird returned from the dead by recolonizing its former island home and evolving back into existence twice in less than 20,000 years through an unusual process known as ‘iterative evolution’.
Fossils reveal that an extinct species of flightless bird returned from the dead by re-colonizing its former island home and evolving back into existence twice in less than 20,000 years. The white-throated rail from Madagascar in the south-western Indian Ocean colonized the tiny Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean and became flightless before the island and everything on it was swallowed by rising seas 136,000 years ago.
“Aldabra went under the sea and everything was gone,” Natural History Museum avian paleontologist and lead author of the study, Julian Hume, explained in email. “There was an almost complete turn over in the fauna. Everything including an endemic crocodile and a duck, as well as the tortoise and the rail went extinct. Yet, as the Aldabra rail still lives on today, something must have happened for it to have returned.”
The Ice Age is what happened: it caused sea levels to drop so Aldabra resurfaced some 118,000 years ago. Thus, the white-throated rail recolonised the island and once again lost its ability to fly, giving rise to the flightless bird that we know today. (MORE)
What do marine mammals drink?
https://www.treehugger.com/animals/what-...drink.html
EXCERPT: . . . Whales, dolphins, sea lions and other marine mammals ... They live in saltwater; but do they also drink it?
Marine biologist Robert Kenney of the University of Rhode Island explains that some marine mammals have been known to occasionally partake in the salty stuff, but they rely on other options. They often get the water they need from the food they eat [...]
Even so, marine mammals get a lot of salt ... and they have ways to get rid of it. Seawater is three times saltier than blood (of both terrestrial and marine invertebrates). So sea animals get rid of extra salt by producing super salty urine. [...] Some seals will eat snow to get their fresh water; meanwhile, California sea lions can get enough water from the fish they eat and can live without actually drinking any fresh water at all.
And while you might think that seabirds have it easier [...] they still have some pretty nifty tricks up their wings. As The Times explains, "seabirds have special organs called salt glands above their eyes that extract excess salt from the bloodstream and excrete it through the nostrils." (MORE - details)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscienti...es-to-die/
INTRO: Fossils reveal that an extinct species of flightless bird returned from the dead by recolonizing its former island home and evolving back into existence twice in less than 20,000 years through an unusual process known as ‘iterative evolution’.
Fossils reveal that an extinct species of flightless bird returned from the dead by re-colonizing its former island home and evolving back into existence twice in less than 20,000 years. The white-throated rail from Madagascar in the south-western Indian Ocean colonized the tiny Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean and became flightless before the island and everything on it was swallowed by rising seas 136,000 years ago.
“Aldabra went under the sea and everything was gone,” Natural History Museum avian paleontologist and lead author of the study, Julian Hume, explained in email. “There was an almost complete turn over in the fauna. Everything including an endemic crocodile and a duck, as well as the tortoise and the rail went extinct. Yet, as the Aldabra rail still lives on today, something must have happened for it to have returned.”
The Ice Age is what happened: it caused sea levels to drop so Aldabra resurfaced some 118,000 years ago. Thus, the white-throated rail recolonised the island and once again lost its ability to fly, giving rise to the flightless bird that we know today. (MORE)
What do marine mammals drink?
https://www.treehugger.com/animals/what-...drink.html
EXCERPT: . . . Whales, dolphins, sea lions and other marine mammals ... They live in saltwater; but do they also drink it?
Marine biologist Robert Kenney of the University of Rhode Island explains that some marine mammals have been known to occasionally partake in the salty stuff, but they rely on other options. They often get the water they need from the food they eat [...]
Even so, marine mammals get a lot of salt ... and they have ways to get rid of it. Seawater is three times saltier than blood (of both terrestrial and marine invertebrates). So sea animals get rid of extra salt by producing super salty urine. [...] Some seals will eat snow to get their fresh water; meanwhile, California sea lions can get enough water from the fish they eat and can live without actually drinking any fresh water at all.
And while you might think that seabirds have it easier [...] they still have some pretty nifty tricks up their wings. As The Times explains, "seabirds have special organs called salt glands above their eyes that extract excess salt from the bloodstream and excrete it through the nostrils." (MORE - details)