Do seagulls drink seawater

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Q.� Why doesn't seawater harm the gulls

A.� They can drink seawater because they have a mechanism for expelling the salt as residue through their nostrils, creating the crusty white flakes sometimes seen on their beaks.

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If you see liquid dripping from the end of a gull's beak it is likely the resulting saline solution being secreted

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Q.� Why cant humans drink seawater

A.� Because, unlike seagulls, we don't have a means for expelling the excess salt from our systems and we can't ingest the salts either.

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Q.� What about marine mammals

A.� They don't require much drinking water as very little evaporates from their body since they're surrounded by the stuff. They get all their fluid requirements from the fish they eat.

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Q.� What do seagulls eat

A.� Seagulls are pretty adept at eating anything, either scavenging what's around or catching their own food. They've become particularly skilled at finishing off whatever humans have discarded: chicken bones, waste paper, you name it, causing populations numbers to explode.

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They are also feisty, bullying and greedy, snatching the eggs and chicks of puffins and terns and even stealing fish from a pelican's pouch. They also catch clams and fish.

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Gulls can safely regurgitate large bones, crab claws and other inedible items not dissolved by digestive juices.

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Do you want to know how an animal survives Click here to ask.

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by Lisa Cardy