The offspring drink from the gloca
Cretaceous amphibians laid eggs, but secreted nutrients such as milk for the hatchlings. Ancient waterfalls have often baffled researchers.
A ringworm's juveniles cluster around its rear.
Photo: Carlos Jarrett
Feeding offspring with nutrient-rich milk is a common characteristic of mammals. Researchers were surprised when they discovered an amphibian that produced nutritious milk. Egg-laying, worm-like species provide fatty material for their young. The group reports About Carlos Jarrett from the Instituto Butonton in São Paulo in the special issue of “Science”. So mini amphibians request food several times a day, probably like baby birds, with sounds and touch.
Apart from mammals, in vertebrates the fetal yolk is the only source of nutrients that mothers provide to their offspring from their own production early in life. Some spiders, cockroaches, fish and birds are known to feed their offspring with a nutrient-rich substance that acts like mammalian milk.
Jarrett's team has now studied the behavior of ringworms (Siphonops annulatus), a subterranean amphibian species found in South America. 16 females, with 4 to 13 litters each, were included. The offspring were observed to ingest more viscous material from the maternal posterior outlet and then show signs of satiety such as reduced activity.
“mammary glands” and venomous teeth
During the two months after hatching, the chicks are fed several times a day. Researchers explain that this type of interaction between parent and offspring is unknown in any other amphibian. A lipid- and carbohydrate-rich substance, researchers call milk, is produced in specialized glands in the mother's fallopian tubes.
Ringworm is an exceptional amphibian anyway. Primitive, blind animals, up to 40 centimeters long, produce a venom that apparently weakens prey or attackers. While other amphibians store such a secretion in their skin, the ringworm has a mouth with venomous teeth comparable to snakes. Recently, researchers discovered that animals secrete mucus at both ends of their bodies to move quickly and fend off pursuers. And feeding offspring was previously considered unique.
Young animals eat the mother's skin
In the case of egg-laying sycophant species, young animals have been documented to feed on their mother's skin enriched with fatty substances from their bodies within two months. During this time, mothers rarely leave their young to eat on their own at least once, Jarrett's team explains. This skin feeding also occurs in Siphonops annulatus and mothers are said to curl up in one spot with the young on their backs for long periods of time. However, skin feeding was much less common than milk feeding.
According to Carlos Jarrett's team, good care has a clear effect: boys grow up faster. Their body mass increases by about 130 percent during the first week after hatching alone.
DPA
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