On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to meTwo turtle doves …
Unlike some bird gifts that come up later in “The 12 Days of Christmas,” two turtle doves kind of make sense as a present from your true love. Turtle doves (named because they make a “tur-tur” sound) have been a symbol of love since biblical times. If someone gave you two of them, thats probably because theyre mates whove paired for life.
Those two turtle doves might instead be siblings. Two is the maximum number of chicks in a turtle dove nest, one for each parent. Because if there are more than two, the parents cant produce enough milk for all of them.
Thats right: Birds make milk. Not all birds, but members of the pigeon family like turtle doves, and also flamingos and some penguins. They dont squirt it out of nipples, since only mammals have mammaries. But we call the stuff milk, and they make it in the crop, a sort of second stomach that generally just stores food before digestion.
So if you see a pigeon coughing up something into a baby pigeons mouth, then 1) congratulations, many people go their whole lives without seeing a baby pigeon, and 2) that’s crop milk. They arent vomiting, which is how some other birds feed their young. The crop milk (made by both male and female birds) consists of just their own secretions and also a fair number of living cells. The result actually smells even worse than vomit, thanks to all the bacteria in there, which is why weve yet to package and market bird milk as an all-natural substitute for oat and almond milk. Advertisement
Turtle dove milk is still less disgusting than flamingo milk. Flamingo milk is pink. “Hey, thats not disgusting at all,” some would say. “Its probably strawberry-flavored. Or, its pink because flamingos are pink, duh.” But no: Flamingos are pink thanks to the carotenoid pigment thats in a lot of stuff they eat, while their crop milk is pink because its got so many red blood cells mixed in there. We mammals may all be little cannibals thanks to our diet of breastmilk, but birds are cannibals and vampires.
Birds don’t have nipples, as they are not mammals. Although, we talk about birds’ breasts they don’t have mammary glands which mammals use to feed their young milk.
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On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to meTwo turtle doves …
Unlike some bird gifts that come up later in “The 12 Days of Christmas,” two turtle doves kind of make sense as a present from your true love. Turtle doves (named because they make a “tur-tur” sound) have been a symbol of love since biblical times. If someone gave you two of them, thats probably because theyre mates whove paired for life.
Those two turtle doves might instead be siblings. Two is the maximum number of chicks in a turtle dove nest, one for each parent. Because if there are more than two, the parents cant produce enough milk for all of them.
Thats right: Birds make milk. Not all birds, but members of the pigeon family like turtle doves, and also flamingos and some penguins. They dont squirt it out of nipples, since only mammals have mammaries. But we call the stuff milk, and they make it in the crop, a sort of second stomach that generally just stores food before digestion.
So if you see a pigeon coughing up something into a baby pigeons mouth, then 1) congratulations, many people go their whole lives without seeing a baby pigeon, and 2) that’s crop milk. They arent vomiting, which is how some other birds feed their young. The crop milk (made by both male and female birds) consists of just their own secretions and also a fair number of living cells. The result actually smells even worse than vomit, thanks to all the bacteria in there, which is why weve yet to package and market bird milk as an all-natural substitute for oat and almond milk. Advertisement
Turtle dove milk is still less disgusting than flamingo milk. Flamingo milk is pink. “Hey, thats not disgusting at all,” some would say. “Its probably strawberry-flavored. Or, its pink because flamingos are pink, duh.” But no: Flamingos are pink thanks to the carotenoid pigment thats in a lot of stuff they eat, while their crop milk is pink because its got so many red blood cells mixed in there. We mammals may all be little cannibals thanks to our diet of breastmilk, but birds are cannibals and vampires.
How many nipples do people actually have? #shorts #science #SciShow
FAQ
Which mammals have 2 nipples?
How many nipples do animals have?
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Species
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Cranial teats (thoracic)
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Total teats
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Cattle
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0
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4
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Cat
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2
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8
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|
Dog
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4
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8 or 10
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Mouse
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6
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10
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Why do primates have only two nipples?
Is there a mammal without nipples?
Do birds have nipples?
No, birds do not have nipples. They do not nurse their young like mammals; instead, they regurgitate food to feed their offspring. How many testes do male birds have? Male birds typically have a single testis, although some species, such as ostriches, have two. Do female birds have a uterus? No, female birds do not have a uterus.
Do Bird nipples need to be tapped?
PVC holes need to be tapped or the nipples will pop out or leak. When the birds use the nipples, sometimes more water is released than the bird can drink. The nipples are also self-draining (so that no water is stored inside the barrel). This can result in a small amount of water dripping after or between use.
How many ovaries does a female bird have?
Female birds in most families have only one functional ovary (the left one), connected to an oviduct — although two ovaries are present in the embryonic stage of each female bird. Some species of birds have two functional ovaries, and the kiwis always retain both. Most male birds have no phallus.
Do birds have different genitalia?
Birds’ genitalia refer to their reproductive organs responsible for sexual reproduction. Unlike mammals, birds possess a cloaca, a single opening used for excretion and mating. Do male and female birds have different genitalia? Yes, male and female birds have different genitalia.