How animal get water in the desert
Answers
Answer and Explanation:
The mechanisms some desert animals have evolved to retain water are even more elaborate. They range from simple to physiologically complex. Some retain water by burrowing into moist soil during the dry daylight hours (all desert toads). Some predatory and scavenging animals can obtain their entire moisture needs from the food they eat (e.g., turkey vulture) but still may drink when water is available. Reptiles and birds excrete metabolic wastes in the form of uric acid, an insoluble white compound, wasting very little water in the process. Mammals, however, excrete urea, a soluble compound that accounts for considerable water loss. Most mammals, therefore, need access to a good supply of fresh water, at least every few days, if not daily.
Acquiring Water
Desert creatures derive water directly from plants, particularly succulent ones, such as cactus. Many species of insects thrive in the deserts this way. Some insects tap plant fluids such as nectar or sap from stems, while others extract water from the plant parts they eat, such as leaves and fruit. The abundance of insect life permits insectivorous birds, bats and lizards to thrive in the desert.
Some desert creatures utilize all of these physical and behavioral mechanism to survive the extremes of heat and dryness. Certain desert mammals, such as kangaroo rats, live in underground dens which they seal off to block out midday heat and to recycle the moisture from their own breathing.
These ingenious rodents (there are a number of species) also have specialized kidneys with extra microscopic tubules to extract most of the water from their urine and return it to the blood stream. And much of the moisture that would be exhaled in breathing is recaptured in the nasal cavities by specialized organs.
If that weren't enough, kangaroo rats, and some other desert rodents, actually manufacture their water metabolically from the digestion of dry seeds. These highly specialized desert mammals will not drink water even when it is given to them in captivity!