Feeding young with mother’s milk is usually connected to mammals that separate them from other animals. And like many other species, birds also have no mammary glands and are usually not known to produce any milk -like substance. They rely on feeding their chickens, bugs, or even feeding their chicks based on species. However, most of the rules in nature, like, are exceptions.
It is surprising to know that a handful of bird species have developed to produce substances known as crop milk. It is not milk similar to milk that produces mammals, and does not have any lactose and does not come from the mammary glands, but it provides a similar purpose for the youth. Crop milk There is a nutrient-rich secretion caused by crop lining, a sac in the area of the throat, providing the required fat and protein to hatching during its weakest early days.
“Despite its name, crop milk is not a true milk, but a secretion rich in protein and fat that performs a comparable function,” Orlithologist in bird biology. Sara wagner says.
There are three special bird species that produce crop milk to nurture their young people.
Pigeon and pigeon
Pigeon and pigeon Perhaps the most famous birds produce crop milk. Both male and female members of the species contribute to feeding their chickens this thick, yellow-white-white fluid, which after hatching for the first few days.
Pigeons have incredibly rich crop milk because it contains about 60% of protein and fat levels, which helps chickens grow rapidly in its first week. This crop milk hormone is manufactured by trigger of prolactin, the same hormone responsible for milk production in mammals.
As Dr. “The production of crop milk in pigeons is regulated by prolactin, which mimics the biological passage seen in mammals,” says Wagner explains, “explains.
Flamingos
Flamingos There is another unexpected member of this group. Both male and female flamingos produce a bright red crop milk; This red color comes from the carotenoid pigment in their diet, the same pigments that give flamingos their iconic pink color.
Flemingo crop milk is also rich in fat and protein and contains immune-growing compounds to support the development of chicks in their early stages. During the first few weeks of life, Flamingo girls are dependent on this substance for completely nutrition. According to the 2022 article in national wildlife, “Flamingo crop milk is so essential that parents can lose up to 10% of their body weight, during the feeding period.”
Emperor penguins
Even though Emperor Penguins live in one of the most extreme climate on Earth, they have developed this amazing adaptation. When the female leaves to hunt after laying the egg, the male incubates the egg for more than two months without eating.
If the girl hatch before the mother returns, the father secretes milk -like milk from her esophagus (food pipe) to keep the chicken alive.
This substance is high in protein and until the mother returns with real food, it is a temporary solution. It is not actually milk crop, but plays the same nutritional role.
As Marine Biologist Dr. Linda Cheng said in the Polar Life Journal, “Emperor Penguin Father produces secretions like a yogurt that allows the girl to survive for days in the absence of the mother”.
Photo Credit: Canva
