Strange but True: Animal Facts
Do Male Seahorses Are Nature’s Mr. Mom?
- When seahorses mate, the female inserts her ovipositor into the male’s brood pouch (an external structure that grows on the body of the male) and deposits her unfertilized eggs into the pouch.
- The male then releases sperm into the pouch to fertilize the eggs.
- After the female deposits her unfertilized eggs into the male, the outer shell of the eggs breaks down, and tissue from the male grows up around the eggs in the pouch.
- After fertilizing the eggs, the male closely controls the prenatal environment of the embryos in his pouch.
- The male keeps blood flowing around the embryos, controls the salt concentrations in the pouch, and provides oxygen and nutrition to the developing offspring through a placenta-like structure until he gives birth.
Do dolphins drink salt water?
- Most dolphins live in the ocean and the ocean water is too salty for them to drink!
- If they would drink sea water, they would actually use more water trying to get rid of the salt than they drank in the first place.
- Most of their water comes from their food (fish and squid). Also, when they metabolize (burn) their fat, water is released in the process.
- Their kidneys are also adapted to retaining as much water as possible.
- Although they live in water, they live as desert animals with no direct source of drinkable water.
