Animals Drinking; more to it than meets the tongue

All vertebrate life (and probably all other life) needs water, and the simplest way is seemingly just to drink it. However it's not always that simple actually and in fact quite a few animals, including many desert dwellers, rely on getting their necessary liquid intake from their food. This may be from succulent plants or from eating other animals. In general however most animals drink daily, usually more than once. And even among these, there's no one way that all animals drink. 

Among larger mammals (especially larger carnivores and hoofed mammals) lapping with the tongue is prevalent. But even here there are variations. Dogs and relatives scoop with the tongue, while cats quickly withdraw the tongue, 'pulling' water up into the mouth. 

Big male Jaguar Panthera onca, lapping water from a river, Pantanal,
south-western Brazil.

Sumatran Tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae, Adelaide Zoo.
(And this is the only captive animal to feature here, but that lapping tongue was too good to ignore!)

Most herbivores submerge the tip of their muzzle and use the tongue as a pump. (The following three images are old - pre-digital - scans of slides, all taken at Etosha National Park, in the deserts of northern Namibia. Unfortunately they're still the best I've got of drinking antelopes.)

Black-faced Impala Aepyceros petersi, a species found only in northern Namibia
and adjacent Angola.

 

Gemsbok Oryx gazella, a large desert antelope from south-western Africa.

Female Nyala Tragelaphus angasii, truly a beautiful antelope.

Common Warthog Phacochoerus africanus, Waza NP, northern Cameroon.

Southern Giraffe Giraffa giraffa, another old scan from Etosha I'm afraid. To reach the
water, giraffes must either spread stiff front legs widely, or bend them as here. According to
the Etosha NP web site the question of how they managed to get water 'uphill' for that distance was
resolved by a visiting physicist. Apparently the animal uses two 'valves' to achieve
the feat. One valve is formed by the lips, the other by the epiglottis at the back of
the mouth. It first 'sinks its puckered lips into the water and then pulls back its jaw, allowing
water to rush into the mouth, all the while keeping the epiglottis “valve” closed.
Next, the giraffe clenches its lips and relaxes the epiglottis, then pumps its jaw so that
the captured water is pushed into the esophagus.' From time it lifts its neck to
allow collected water to run down into the stomach. As with many animals,
this is when it is at its most vulnerable to predators.

Distant Vicunas Lama vicugna drinking in Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve, southern Peru,
on the northern edge of the Atacama Desert. This wild ancestor of the Alpaca lives only in the high
cold and arid Andes.

Kangaroos have apparently independently evolved a similar lapping system to cats and dogs, with a long narrow muzzle and and long tongue. This also enables desert kangaroos (especially Red Kangaroos and Euros) to access narrow water supplies such as in rock crevices, which are inaccessible to domestic stock.

Euro Macropus robustus drinking from a waterhole in Idalia NP, central Quensland.

Finally elephants, uniquely (well they've got a monopoly on trunks these days!) suck water into their trunks and then blow it directly into their mouths. This one was part of a large loose herd coming to drink and bathe in pools in the Ewaso Ng'iro River.

First it fills its trunk by suction...

... then it squirts it into its mouth.

Birds, obviously enough, must employ different strategies. With a very few exceptions, birds don't have suction available to them - no lips for a start! Accordingly it seems that most birds simply scoop water into their bill and tilt their head back.

Emus Dromaius novaehollandiae drinking from road puddles after overnight rain,
Mungo NP, south-western NSW. 

 

Interestingly these youngsters, at the same site, found it easier to reach the water
from a squatting position.

Here are some other birds using the same technique, though we can't actually see the moment of scooping.

These Apostlebirds Struthidea cinerea were taking advantage of a very shallow puddle by
a water tank in a roadside stop in western NSW.

White-winged Choughs Corcorax melanorhamphos drinking from a dam on
the outskirts of Canberra.

Crimson Chats Epthianura tricolor drinking at a rockhole on the southern
edge of the Great Sandy Desert in central far eastern Western Australia.

A small part of a huge flock of Masked and White-browed Woodswallows
(Artamus personatus and A. superciliosus) drinking at a waterhole south
of Georgetown, central northern Queensland.

Silvereyes Zosterops lateralis drinking in the relative safety of granite boulders
in a creek bed in Warrabah NP, central NSW. Drinking is always a potentially
hazardous undertaking, with predators always likely to be lurking.

A couple of groups of birds however are known to be able to suck; this is advantageous in that it reduces the dangerous time spent at the water's edge. Pigeons are the best-known exponents. They create a sort of peristaltic pump by sending waves of muscular contractions along the oesophagus to pull the water back.

Bar-shouldered Doves Geopelia humeralis drinking (at the same rockpool as the Euro above)
in Idalia NP, central Queensland.

Diamond Doves Geopelia cuneata (red eye and spotted wings) and
Peaceful Doves G. placida (blue eye-ring and barred wings) drinking
at Warrigal Waterhole near Mount Isa, far north-western Queensland.

White-headed Pigeon Columba leucomela in a back yard
on the edge of Nowra, south coast NSW.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised to discover that a related family of birds, the arid land sandgrouse of Africa and Central Asia, have a similar drinking adaptation. In their case they suck water into the beak, then tip their head to allow to run into the crop for storage and transport to chicks in nests on the ground.

Black-faced Sandgrouse Pterocles decoratus, Amboseli NP, Kenya.

Chestnut-breasted Sandgrouse P. exustus Serengeti NP, Tanzania.

Chestnut-breasted Sandgrouse, Waza NP, northern Cameroon.
I have included this poor photo because, if you click on it to enlarge, you'll
see that the bird on the left is in the act of tipping its head back to swallow,
spilling some water in the process.

Some of the Australian grass-finches have also evolved a means of reducing drinking time by suction, though they use a different strategy, involving a 'bill-down' posture.
 

Australian Zebra Finch Taeniopygia castanotis drinking in typical position,
Murrawa Bore, Great Sandy Desert, WA.

 

Zebra Finches coming to drink in the evening at Willie Rockhole on
the southern edge of the Great Sandy Desert, WA.

They use their tongues as a double-action scoop, at up to twenty times a second, taking a droplet of water into the mouth, and from there back into the oesophagus and crop, via the pharynx. Other Australian grass finches which can do likewise include Double-bar, Gouldian, Diamond Firetail, Star, Long-tailed, Masked, Black-throated and Pictorella Finches. I don't know if this list is comprehensive, or if all others have been studied and excluded. As far as I know non-Australian grass finches do not have this ability, but again I don't know how far such studies extend.

At a little puddle by the headquarters complex in Serengeti NP,
Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus Uraeginthus bengalus and a
Blue-capped Cordon-bleu U. cyanocephalus contemplate
their drinking strategy. Or not.

I have read (non-authoritatively) that parrots can 'lap' water with their tongue - their tongues are very flexible, so it's plausible - but I've also seen it asserted that most birds also can, which seems contrary to most sources. The fact is that there is a lot of apparently unsubstantiated material 'out there', and some large information gaps.

This Australian Ringneck Parrot Barnardius zonarius at Idalia NP in central Queensland
certainly appeared to me to drinking steadily, not 'sipping and tipping' so I'm inclined
to believe that at least some parrots do 'lap'.

 

I couldn't tell with these - they'd paused their activity to keep an eye on me.

Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius, Mount Majura, Canberra Nature Park.

Pale-headed Rosellas P. adscitus, taking early morning advantage of the 'infinity pool'
at Cobbold Gorge Station south of Georgetown, north Queensland.

Various nectar-dependant birds, including hummingbirds, sunbirds and honeyeaters, have forked or brush-tipped tongues to take up nectar by rapid movements, but I don't know if the first two have been observed drinking water, which is the topic of this post. I have certainly seen many species of Australian honeyeaters doing so however and many of those have been 'bill down' so not sipping and tipping.

Macleay's Honeyeater Xanthotis macleayanus, drinking at Kingfisher Park, Julatten,
north-east Queensland. Here the brush-tipped tongue is clearly visible, and obviously
'lapping' up the water, as it would flower nectar.

Noisy Friarbird Philemon corniculatus, at the same dam behind the campground
in Idalia NP as the Australian Ringneck just above. The tongue is not visible but
from this position it could only be using its tongue to lift the water.

No chance of seeing detail in this four-species chaos at an elevated trough (above the reach of goats)
at Gluepot Reserve in the mallee lands north of the Murray River in South Australia.
(For the record we have, from the left, White-eared, Brown-headed, Spiny-cheeked and
Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters.)

I've already alluded to a lack of information with regard to the drinking strategies of many bird groups, and this photo, again from the same Idalia NP dam, has caused me a lot frustration in attempting to explain what's happening.

The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Acanthagenys rufogularis on the right is behaving as
expected, but what about the Spotted Bowerbird Chlamydera maculata on the left?
Many bowerbirds use a coloured tongue as part of the display routine, but I can find
nothing to suggest that they use it to lap up water. But how else could it be drinking
from that position? I like a good mystery, but explanations are nice too!

 

And finally another mystery, plus an entirely different approach to drinking.

This young Australian Brushturkey Alectura lathami, living in the North Coast Regional
Botanic Garden at Coffs Harbour on the north coast of NSW, drank from this pond
by turning its head on its side - almost upside down in fact - to put its beak into the water.
Needless to say I had no idea what it was up to, and I can't find any mention of such
behaviour anywhere. Any suggestions welcomed!

Any finally, not a mystery, this is a well-known behaviour, but it's pretty amazing to watch.

Magnificent Frigatebirds Fregata magnificens, drinking from a pond on the island of
Isabela, Galápagos. These have briefly settled on the surface, but frigatebirds often
drink by swooping low over a water surface and scooping a beakful up as they go.
The next photo, though again a scan of an ancient slide, shows this behaviour quite well.

 

Lesser Frigatebirds Fregata ariel drinking on the wing from a bauxite mine
tailings pond, Weipa, far north Queensland.

Well I hope I've inveigled you to read this far (or at least look at the pictures); if you've learnt something that you're happy you now know, then I'm happy. Either way, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.

NEXT POSTING TUESDAY 25 MARCH
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