There is a weird amphibians that nurses its young
Evidence of Milk in the Caecilians of a Brazilian Molluscan Egg-Laying Amphiphilus Scorpii (Scorpia annulatus)
In the 2000s, researchers showed that in some caecilians, the young hatched with teeth and that they fed on a nutrient-rich layer of their mother’s skin2 around every seven days. “It sounded a little strange — babies eating just once a week,” says Marta Antoniazzi, a naturalist also at the Butantan Institute. That wouldn’t be enough for the baby to develop.
“I think they are okay,” says Marta Antoniazzi, a Biologist at the Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brazil is home to lots of caecilians and Antoniazzi is a fan.
The creature, known as a caecilian, lives underground. Researchers believe that the animal developed the ability to produce a milk-like substance independently of mammals, who are universally known for feeding milk to their young.
For Antoniazzi, caecilians are a wonderful reminder that very different animals, like puppies and underground worm-amphibians, can share a lot in common.
Carlos Jared directs the institute’s department of structural biology and leads the team that was studying the caecilians. As he was watching this fascinating process, he couldn’t help but notice the wriggly little babies had a ton of energy.
The liquid is similar to mammal milk according to study co-author Carlos Jared, a ecologist at the Butantan Institute.
The footage revealed that as well as munching on their mother’s skin, S. annulatus young could get their mother to eject a fat- and carbohydrate-rich liquid from her cloaca — the combined rear opening for the reproductive and digestive systems — by making high-pitched clicking noises. The young would also stick their heads into the cloaca to feed.
A group of people, including Antoniazzi, wanted to know more about the strange feeding habits of the young mollusks, so they collected caecilians at a cacao plantation in Brazil. The researchers then filmed the animals and analysed more than 200 hours of their behaviour.
An egg-laying amphibian found in Brazil nourishes its newly hatched young with a fatty, milk-like substance, according to a study published today in Science1.
Lactation is considered a key characteristic of mammals. A number of animals can produce liquid for offspring, including birds, fish, insects and even spiders.
Researchers claim to have found that an egg-laying amphibian in Brazil nourishes its newly hatched young with a milk-like substance. In some caecilians, the young hatched withTeeth and fed on a nutrient-rich layer of their mother’s skin around every seven days. “It sounded a little strange- babies eating just once a week,” said Marta Antoniazzi, a biologist at the Butantan Institute.