Australia's Animals Beat The Summer Heat Using Mucous, Saliva And Precision Engineering – The Australian Business Journal

by | Dec 16, 2023 | Engineer

Animals
Summer in the sunburnt country can be a brutal cauldron of heat and humidity — and not just for its human inhabitants.
Unlike us, a lot of Australia’s animals cannot sweat to keep cool.
But after thousands of years of evolution — if not millions — they’ve developed other creative thermoregulation solutions.
Whether it’s going to sleep for a year, fly-by belly dipping or covering themselves in mucous, these are some of the fascinating and bizarre methods of fauna battling hot weather.
Kangaroo species can sweat but, strangely enough, only while hopping.
The rest of the time, if it gets hot, they have to find other ways to deal with high temperatures.
Eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) mostly rely on panting, quick short breaths, for evaporative heat loss.
All kangaroos also like to give their forearms, which contain a whole heap of blood vessels, a lick.
As the moisture evaporates on their arms, they lose heat. 
Shade can reduce exposure to solar radiation for big animals such as red kangaroos by 80 per cent.
Bioclimatic modelling has predicted that Northern Australia could see a dramatic halving in distribution areas for four kangaroo species — red kangaroo, eastern grey, antilopine (Macropus antilopinus) and common wallaroo (Macropus robustus) — if average temperatures exceed 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The world is currently on track for about 3C of warming, according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s latest emissions gap report from November.
Australia’s unofficial national bird doesn’t mind a dip in the ocean or watering holes when the mercury rises.
Generally emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) remain active in hot parts of the day, unlike kangaroos.
To be able to stay out in the sun all hours, the emu relies on its coat of feathers.
Specifically, the two-toned colouring of each feather.
Simona is a proficient content writer who spends most of her days writing articles and doing research. Her expertise lies in the realm of technology and lifestyle. When she isn't writing, she's spending time with her family in the mountains, on a continuous search for inspiration.
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© 2021 The ABJ -The Australian Business Journal. All Rights Reserved.

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