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A strange mixture of mammals, birds and reptiles that can once disappear. What do you make of such funny animal organs?
It is common to observe the pellets to swim in the Australian waters, with nozzles similar to those of the ducks, but with four paws, zero teeth and a bizarre face. Now, due to climate change, faces, and seeing them is not that recurring.
The ornitorrics They lay eggs. However, also feed your youngwith milk. But being the “strangest animal in the world”, according to, there had to be an even more curious feature: they have no nipples – Milk is exuded.
As explains, milk drips from the surface of your skin, which makes it seem sweat, but in fact, the organs are aquatic beings and do not produce sweat regularly.
Since this distribution system is less hygienic than the direct method of the nipple in the mouth, the ornitorrinco milk contains anti-bacterial proteins to protect the pups from disease.
In fact, the ornitorrinco belongs to an old group of mammals – the Monotremados – That there were millions of years before the appearance of any existing mammal.
“In fact, the ornitorRinco belongs to the class Mammalia. But genetically, it is a mixture of mammals, birds and reptiles. He retained many of the original characteristics of his ancestors, which probably contributed to his success in adapting to the environment in which he lives, ”he explains to biologist Guojie Zhang.
But how do these egg animals do and breastfeed at the same time?
A new one, published in Natureexplains that the pilgrimages still have a gene of vitelogeninwhich allows animals but eggs (chickens, for example, have 3 genes of these).
The investigation also demonstrates that this curious animal also has genes of casein – One of the main components of mammalian milk – so the composition of your milk is similar to that of cows or even humans.
“This informs us that milk production in all species of existing mammals was developed through the same set of genes derived from an ordinary ancestor who lived more than 170 million years ago – along with the first dinosaurs in the Jurassic period, ”explains Zhang, involved in the study.
Another peculiarity of the ornitorrics is that they have 10 Sexual Chromosomes (5 X chromosomes and 5 Y chromosomes), unlike all earth mammals, including humans, who have only 2.
What secrets to unraveling hide these fun (and exotic) animals, which seem to have time told?
