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Article: The quest for water. (water-gathering techniques of different animals)
- Article from:
- National Wildlife
- Article date:
- June 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 National Wildlife Federation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Scientists have found that animals obtain liquid in an astounding variety of ways: by drinking, eating, absorbing - -even creating water from scratch
The Texas homed toad is one of the fiercer-looking inhabitants of the arid American Southwest. When threatened, the reptile (actually not a toad but a lizard) splays its legs wide, lowers its head menacingly and arches its spike-covered back like a tank ready for war. Oddly, the reptile assumes much the same posture during desert rains.
"It's a rain-harvesting stance," explains biologist Wade Sherbrooke of the American Museum of Natural History's Southwestern Research Station in Portal, Arizona. In the desert, a ...