The offspring drink from the cloaca
Cretaceous amphibians lay eggs, but also secrete a nutritious, milk-like substance for the young. Ancient amphibians often frightened researchers.
Juveniles of the frond are clustered around its posterior end.
Photo: Carlos Jared
Feeding offspring with nutrient-rich milk is a typical feature of mammals. In contrast, researchers were surprised to discover an amphibian that produces nutritious milk. These worm-like species, which lay eggs, provide their young with a substance rich in fats. Inform the team About Carlos Jared from the Butantan Institute in São Paulo in the specialized magazine “Science”. Therefore, young amphibians request food several times a day, perhaps in a manner similar to bird chicks, through sounds and touch.
Aside from mammals, in vertebrates the fetal yolk is usually the only source of nutrition that mothers give to their offspring of their own production early in life. Some spiders, cockroaches, fish and birds are known to feed their offspring with a nutrient-rich substance that is functionally similar to mammalian milk.
Jared's team has now examined the behavior of annelids (Siphonops annulatus), a species of underground crawling amphibian found in South America. 16 females were included, each with 4 to 13 young. It has been observed that the offspring ingest a very viscous substance from the outlet in the mother's anus and then show signs of satiety such as decreased activity.
“Mammary glands” and venomous fangs
The young are fed several times daily for the two months after hatching, apparently in response to certain touches and high-pitched sounds. The researchers explain that this type of communication between parents and children is not known in any other amphibian. The fat- and carbohydrate-rich substance, which researchers call milk, is produced in special glands in the mother's fallopian tube.
The ringworm is an exceptional amphibian anyway. The blind, primitive animals, up to 40 cm long, produce venom with which they can weaken prey or attackers. While other amphibians store such a secretion in their skin, the ringworm has a mouth with venomous teeth, similar to that of a snake. Researchers recently discovered that animals secrete mucus on the ends of their bodies so they can move more quickly and deter pursuers. Feeding offspring was previously considered a private matter.
Young animals eat the skin of their mothers
In the case of egg-laying species of sycophants, young animals have been documented to eat their mothers' skin, which is rich in fatty substances, off their bodies over a period of two months. During this time, mothers never once leave their young to eat something themselves, Jared's team explains. This skin feeding is also said to occur in Siphonops annulatus, where mothers spend most of the time curled up in one place with young animals on their backs. However, skin feeding was observed less frequently than formula feeding.
According to the Carlos Jared group, good care has a clear effect: the boys grow quickly. Their body mass increases by about 130 percent in the first week after hatching alone.
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