Bigger the animal, the longer it takes to pee? There is a study
(ORDO NEWS) — What questions do not arise when looking at a large and beautiful animal. But not everything can be answered and not everything can be asked. However, scientists still answered one uncomfortable question about the work of metabolism in animals.
Not everywhere there is a direct correlation
It is known that a rhinoceros has a larger bladder than, for example, a dog. But which animal spends more time urinating?
In 2014, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology tried to figure this out: The obvious conclusion that larger animals take longer to urinate had to be confirmed.
To test their hypothesis, they set up high-speed cameras to record the Atlanta Zoo’s animals as they “do their thing.”
The researchers also supplemented the footage of the video from YouTube. In total, they analyzed the urination of 32 different animals, from mice to jaguars, gorillas and elephants.
Above, further and more
It turned out that mammals that weigh more than 6 pounds urinate at about the same time, regardless of their size. Specifically, they pee for an average of 13-21 seconds.
“This persistence is noteworthy,” the scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “given that an 18-liter elephant’s bladder is almost 3,600 times larger than a 5-milliliter cat’s bladder.”
The reason is the flow rate. An elephant urinates faster than a cat because its urethra the tube that carries urine from the bladder and out of the body is wider.
The elephant’s urethra is also longer, which allows gravity to act more strongly on the fluid flowing through it. The scientists say their study could help diagnose urinary problems in animals.
For example, if a zookeeper notices that an animal urinates for longer or less than 21 seconds, then this will indicate some health problem for the ward.
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