Everything about The Supraorbital Gland totally explained
The
supraorbital gland is a type of lateral nasal gland found in some species of marine birds, particularly
penguins, which converts saltwater to freshwater. It functions similarly to a kidney. The term
supraorbital refers to the area just above the eye socket (which is known as the
orbit of the eye.)
Living in saltwater environments would naturally pose a large problem for penguins because the ingestion of
saltwater would be detrimental to a penguin's health. Although penguins don't directly drink water, it's taken in when they engulf
prey. As a result, saltwater enters their system and must be effectively
excreted. The supraorbital gland has thus enabled the penguins' survival in such environments due to its water-filtering capability. The gland is located just above the eyes and surrounds a
capillary in the head. This capillary constantly strains out the salt in the saltwater that a penguin takes in. Since the byproduct of the gland has roughly five times as much salt as would normally be found in the animal's fluids, the supraorbital gland is highly efficient.
The penguin excretes the salt byproduct as a
brine through its
bill. Often, the fluid drips out, and this gives the appearance of a runny nose. However, the fluid may also be
sneezed out. In the absence of saltwater, caused by captivity, the supraorbital gland will lie dormant as it has no other purpose. Having a dormant supraorbital gland doesn't negatively affect the health of a penguin.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Supraorbital Gland'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://supraorbital_gland.totallyexplained.com">Supraorbital gland Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
