Biodiversity

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A community about the variety of life on Earth at all levels; including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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This is the first egg-laying amphibian found to feed its babies ‘milk’ (www.sciencenews.org)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Herpetologist Carlos Jared of the Instituto Butantan in São Paulo and his colleagues have been studying these eccentric animals for years. In previous studies, the team noticed that ringed caecilian hatchlings, which live their first two months out of the egg in their mother’s care, spent much of their time around the end of her body near the shared opening of the reproductive, digestive and urinary systems — an anatomical part called the vent. The female would periodically expel a thick fluid from the vent, which the young would enthusiastically feed on.

Something I didn't quite understand after watching the video is in what way the "milk" is expelled or distributed, because maybe it's because of the camera's perspective but from what I saw in the video the babies stayed on top of the tail, not underneath, where I guess the vent is located. Could someone explain if I have misunderstood something?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

In one of the videos this is clear. Some people might feel uncomfortable watching this video, so I will place a link to it under a spoiler tag just in case.

spoiler

Here's the video in which you can see the mom excreting a thick fluid through her cloaca: https://i.imgur.com/sB22z5G.mp4

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I am grateful this isn't the way mammals ended up feeding their offspring.