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
Yes, this is a couple of days early but we're leaving the country on 27 March,
until early May.

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Buffalo Springs National Reserve; superb 'outback Kenya' #2

I've just realised that it's been a year since I posted on the wonderfully scenic, wildlife-rich and semi-arid Shaba National Reserve in central Kenya, which I ended by promising a follow-up on the neighbouring reserve of Buffalo Springs. It's probably time I did something about that! If you're interested in this you might like to look at the original posting here, where I also described the apparently unusual management situation, whereby it's run by the local Isiolo County Council, rather than the generally excellent Kenya national park service. I can't however explain this apparent anomaly.

We travelled with Rockjumper, a South African birding company in which I have great confidence. Entitled Kenya & Tanzania - Birds & Big Game, this was a slightly unusual tour for them, in that it focuses on mammals (and not just big ones!) as well as birds. I've done a couple of 'serious' bird trips with them and enjoyed them, but this one is well suited for couples such as us, where one partner doesn't need the intense bird focus of their usual trips. It's obviously popular as they run a few every year.

Buffalo Springs, along with Sambura, was declared at the same time as Shaba in 1974 and is just across the main highway north from Nairobi to Ethiopia. Buffalo Springs is smaller than Shaba, at just 13,000 hectares, though it is augmented by the 16,500ha of Samburu (where we didn't go) just across the Ewaso Ng'iro River which rises on Mount Kenya to the south. 

The three reserves are located right in the centre of Kenya, well away from the potentially
dangerous border areas of Ethiopia and especially Somalia, though the tour guides
tend to refer to them as in 'northern Kenya'.

The combined area of the three reserves is only 53,000 hectares and they are separated not
only by the highway (the north-south red line) but bya small area between it and Shaba to the east.
The highway does give us easy access from the south however.

Shaba is characterised by rugged lava ridges and outcrops, while most of Buffalo Springs is flatter, with basalt soils over lava flows across the plain. Each has its unique features and, to my eyes, special beauty.

Mount Kenya in the distance, above the semi-arid acacia scrub of Buffalo Springs;
it is very rare to see the mountain free of cloud.

Spiny succulents dominate the drier plains, along with Umbrella Thorn Trees
Vachiella (formerly Acacia) tortilis.

A flock of Helemeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris feeding on a typical dry grassland plain.

We felt more 'at home' in Buffalo Springs than in Shaba, not least because we had the reserve to ourselves for the time we were there! The accommodation felt 'more African', as Lou put it, than the more western fancy resort at Shaba. It was much lower key than Shaba but very gracious, lovely staff, lots of wood, open-air restaurant and bar. I'm afraid it often doesn't occur to me to photograph the accommodation, and I failed to do so on this occasion, though I took some photos from the little balcony and through the windows of our room, which gives you some idea.

Dawn from our balcony.

Our own Umbrella Thorn Tree and the nice cane lounges on the balcony.

An elephant from the balcony is pretty impressive, though there was a discreet
electric fence between us and it.

There was plenty of other wildlife to be seen from, and even on, the balcony in our 'down' time (which coincided with the hottest parts of the day).

The White-browed Sparrow-Weaver Plocepasser mahali colony nearby was busy
most of the day; the untidy nests (relative to those of many other weavers) above,
and one of  the builders investigating us below.

This handsome big weaver is found scattered across much of eastern and southern Africa.

One male Vervet Monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus was a real problem however, due doubtless
to previous guests ignoring the strict instructions about not feeding. He tried to force open
the doors from the balcony and refused to take a backward step when I tried to shoo him
away, instead threatening me with bared teeth. In the end he only retreated after I
threw a couple of glasses of water at him (not the glasses, just the water!).
This was not him - I didn't get the chance to photograph him! - but a younger
better-behaved male who dropped by later. The blue scrotum is characteristic.

Other visitors were much less problematic.

Gecko on the outside of the bathroom window, waiting for insects attracted to the lights.

You probably didn't need two photos of this, but I couldn't
resist the beautiful symmetry of this pair.

And a very different impressive symmetry was also found in the paved lodge driveway - but why?!

The open dining room was also an excellent place to watch wildlife, including on the tables in the case of the starlings!

I reckon that Superb Starlings Lamprotornis superbus trade on their spectacularly
good looks to get away with things that other birds could only aspire to.
But that's just me being anthropomorphic of course.

Others were seen from the dining room, especially in the nearby bushes. 

 A pair of Black-bellied Sunbirds Cinnyris nectarinioides, north-eastern
African specials; female above, male below.

This is reputedly the world's smallest sunbird, some weighing only four grams!
And I know I'm not a great photographer, but the light really was awful on this occasion.

Golden Palm Weavers Ploceus bojeri (also limited to the north-east) were very interested
in our meals, but were nowhere near as bold as the starlings. Females, like this one,
seemed to be more daring than the males (below) however.

This magnificent Goliath Heron Ardea goliath landed in the nearby creek bed while we
were breakfasting early one morning. This is the world's biggest heron,
standing 1.5 metres tall and weighing up to five kilograms. It is said to be relatively
common across sub-Saharan Africa, but I have to admit that's not been my experience.

This Vervet Monkey baby had not yet learnt the attitude that
s/he will doubtless acquire a bit later in life.

At night the restaurant lights attracted lizards, both geckos and skinks, following the insects, as our bathroom window did. The wall of the bar seemed especially attractive. Lounge lizards?

The most dramatic visitor however was a big Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena which came in at night to scavenge kitchen scraps. Unlike the Spotted Hyena with which I'm much more familiar, this species is strictly nocturnal. It's widespread from north and east Africa to India, but I'd not been in its range before and was very pleased to see this one. It is listed as Near Threatened.

 

At the other end of the short (very fancily paved!) driveway was a boom gate and a cottage for the operator. He was in the habit of throwing grain and scraps out in his little yard, which attracted a seething ruck of mendicants, including the following.

A mob of Parrot-billed Sparrows Passer gongonensis, the world's largest sparrow,
with a couple of Superb Starlings and a Northern Red-billed Hornbill Tockus erythrorhynchus
trying to get a piece of the action.

Parrot-billed Sparrow; perhaps the bill is a little parrot-like.

Bristle-crowned Starling Onychognathus salvadorii, for me the standout of the mob on
the ground in the yard. It is huge (for a starling), up to 40cm long, with that unmistakable
coiffure. Another north-eastern special, with a distribution centred on Ethiopia.

White-bellied Go-Away Bird Crinifer leucogaster; this a male with a grey (not green) bill.
The wonderful go-aways are a small group of large, atypically dull-coloured but charistmatic,
African trogons. Their name comes from the southern Grey Go-Away Bird C. concolor
whose call is a whiny nasal 'go waaaay'. This is yet another north-eastern special.

And these alert little Dwarf Mongooses Helogale parvula came out of the shelter of the
rocks to watch proceedings; I have no doubt they'd snap up the odd inattentive sparrow
but on this occasion the opportunity didn't arise.

However nothing can really beat the thrill of a drive in new country in an open vehicle with good guides; you never know what will appear, but there'll always be something! This is certainly true in Buffalo Springs. Including the drive in, we did three drives while we were there and each was rich and rewarding. Last time I started with the birds, but the mammals deserve equal billing in these parks, so I'll let them lead off this time. As you'd expect there were similar species in both the parks we explored (or rather Peter, our driver, did the exploring and his knowledge of the network of park tracks was remarkable), but the relative numbers of the different species was apparently different.

There was a big herd of Grevy's Zebra Equus grevyi, which is unusual.

This is the largest, rarest and most threatened of the three zebra species, found in a very scattered
small range in Kenya and Ethiopia. There are perhaps only 2000 left in the wild, though
the numbers are no longer falling. For more on the three zebras, see here.

Antelopes were also present in good numbers, the most imposing of which were the big Galla Oryx Oryx gallarum (recently separated from the Beisa Oryx O. beisa, though inevitably not everyone agrees).

The oryxes are a group of large long-horned (straight or curved) arid land antelope; above and below.

Curiously (to me at least) Grant's Gazelle Nanger granti, though much better known through numerous wildlife documentaries, has an even smaller range than the oryx, but it includes the great and endlessly filmed reserves of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.

Grant's Gazelles, above and below.

One of my very favourite antelopes is also restricted to this part of the world - the seemingly impossibly elegant and attenuated Southern Gerenuk Litocranius walleri (there is also a Northern Gerenuk, restricted to a tiny area of northern Djibouti). We'd already seen them in Kenya, further south in Amboseli and across the road in Shaba, but you can't have too many gerenuks!

Southern Gerenuks using their long necks and legs - and stretching even higher -
to browse on prickly acacias.

And of course no African landscape is complete without a giraffe, and the richly patterned Reticulated form of Northern Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis is one of the most striking of all. The debate about giraffe taxonomy has been going on for some time, with the traditional model of just one species and nine subspecies looking increasingly shaky. Three species seemed the best fit to the combined evidence until very recently (2020), but see the following caption.

An even more recent study (2021) makes a strong case for four species,
separating out the Reticulated Giraffe as a full species, G. reticulata.
It is easy to dismiss these arguments as esoteric and irrelavant, but in fact it has
very important implications for conservation, as I'm sure you appreciate.

No-one I think though is going to debate the magnificence of these
extraordinary giants!

The highlight of the mammal watching however was the hour or so we spent parked on the river bank watching a herd of some 20 elephants, including babies, coming down into the river bed to drink, spray and wallow in the delightfully cooling mud. We were entranced - no further commentary required I think.

And I have many other photos of this wonderful experience that I could have shared with you!

After that some of you may well decide that talking about birds is a bit of an anticlimax, but I know that some won't, so you choose!

This Crowned Lapwing had laid her eggs right alongside the track, and was indignant
 at our presence with all the outrage that only a lapwing can muster!

Eastern Chanting Goshawk Melierax poliopterus. This attractive bird of prey is
the north-eastern representative of a group of three similar predators found
across most of Africa. It has only recently been recognised as separate from the others.

This splendid big Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus (to whom this photo doesn't do
justice) was glowering at us over its meal of a very large snake, which I'm afraid we
couldn't identify. They are formidable predators, including of other predators as
large as Servals, jackals and big monitor lizards.

Wattled Starlings Creatophora cinerea are widespread in grasslands from the Red Sea to
South Africa, but wander widely, generally in flocks.

Blue-naped Mousebirds Urocolius macrourus are found in a band of dry country across
Africa south of the Sahara. There are six species of them which creep through foliage
with trailing long tails (ie supposedly mouse-like), forming the only Order of birds
confined to mainland Africa.

Grey Wren-warbler Calamonastes simplex, actually in the cisticola family.
Common enough in east Africa, but a skulker and I hadn't previously met it.

Slate-colured Boubou Laniarius funebris. The boubous belong to the African family
of bushshrikes, now regarded as separate from the northern hemisphere shrikes.
Another fairly secretive bird.

White-throated Bee-eater Merops albicollis - I really can't get enough of bee-eaters!
This one has a fascinating life story, breeding in the southern edge of the Sahara, and
spending the rest of the year in central African rainforests. Some however breed in
a small area of central Kenya, at the time we were there.

Donaldson-Smith's Sparrow-Weaver Plocepasser donaldsoni is mostly found only
in north-central Kenya (and in nearby Ethiopia and Somalia). Little seems to be known
about it. Arthur Donaldson Smith (not hyphenated apparently) was a US 'collector'
of everything from elephants to weavers in the 1890s.

White-headed Buffalo Weaver Dinemellia dinemelli is yet another north-east special,
though it's common enough once you find it. It's the only one of its genus, though the
'buffalo' name is also used for related genera. They allegedly follow the buffalo herds
to feed on disturbed insects.

 

Rufous Chatterer Argya rubiginosa, which belongs to a family which includes
laughing thrushes and African babblers. This one was very curious about us.

Cut-throat Finches Amadina fasciata. This group was more interested in preening than
posing, but you can see the dramatic gash of red feathers on the throat that gives them their name.

Red-winged Lark Mirafra hypermetra. To someone coming from a country - and
continent - containing just one speces of native lark, the number and variety of
larks in Africa is bewilderiing and challenging. This is a big stocky lark from a small
area of the north-east.

Well, that's probably enough, even if you're still reading! I hope I've convinced you that this is a place well worth visiting. Although relatively remote from the much-vaunted southern parks of Kenya, I gather that most of the reputable natural history guides go there so you shouldn't have much trouble visiting if you choose to do so, and I really hope you do.

Elephant, weaver nests in a thorn tree, all in front of Mount Kenya. Yes,
I know, it's a cliche of Africa - but it also happens to be real. You really
should experience it at least once in your life.
Thanks for coming with me on this virtual safari.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 28 JULY

I love to receive your comments and in future will be notifying you personally by email when a new posting appears, if you'd like me to. All current subscribers have been added to this mailing list and have already been contacted. This will mean one email every three weeks at the current rate of posting. I promise never to use the list for any other purpose and will never share it.
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