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Wild Things:
Life as We Know It
Butterflies, clicking antelopes, creatures of the deep and more
By Amanda Bensen, T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Anika Gupta and Abigail Tucker
Smithsonian magazine, January 2009
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Venomous kraits must drink river or spring water that flows into the ocean or rainwater on the sea surface. (Tobias Bernhard / zefa / Corbis)
It was "long-standing dogma" that sea snakes subsist on saltwater, say researchers from the University of Florida and elsewhere. But when they tested venomous kraits in the lab, the snakes drank only freshwater or highly diluted saltwater. Conclusion: the sea-dwelling reptiles must drink river or spring water that flows into the ocean or rainwater that pools on the sea surface.
Additional Sources
"The thermohaline expressway: the Southern Ocean as a centre of origin for deep-sea octopuses," Jan M. Strugnell et al., Cladistics, November 11, 2008
"Knee-clicks and visual traits indicate fighting ability in eland antelopes: multiple messages and back-up signals," Jakob Bro-Jørgensen and Torben Dabelsteen, BMC Biology, November 5, 2008
"Sea Snakes (Laticauda spp.) Require Fresh Drinking Water: Implication for the Distribution and Persistence of Populations," Harvey B. Lillywhite et al., Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, November/December 2008
"Hindwings are unnecessary for flight but essential for execution of normal evasive flight in Lepidoptera," Benjamin Jantzen and Thomas Eisner, PNAS, October 28, 2008
"Daytime micro-naps in a nocturnal migrants: an EEG analysis," T. Fuchs et al., Biology Letters, November 5, 2008
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The Click of the Wild Eland Antelope
Listen for the subtle clicks of the eland bull's knees
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