Study: Echidnas blow snot bubbles to cool off
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Echidnas do not have “classic” adaptations to cope with the Australian heat. Sweating is out of the question because they don’t have the proper glands. They also cannot breathe rapidly. But they have a secret weapon.
Researchers have found that echidnas rely on snot bubbles and their stomachs.
They blow bubbles of snot to cool the blood at the tip of their elongated beak.
They also tumble on their stomachs on cool surfaces, allowing the heat to escape, while their legs also remove the heat at this point.
Dr Christine Cooper of Curtin University used thermal imaging to monitor wild echidnas near Perth, Australia, to understand how they exchange heat with their environment.
“They blow bubbles of snot out of the nose, they burst and moisten the tip of the muzzle,” the scientist explained. The study was published in the journal Biology Letters.
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