• Re: Hydration via eccrine reverse osmosis as a drought survival mechani

    From Primum Sapienti@21:1/5 to Marc Verhaegen on Sun Dec 17 23:07:54 2023
    Marc Verhaegen wrote:
    Eccrine Hydration
    Gareth Morgan 2023
    Ideas in Ecology & Evolution 16
    doi org/10.24908/iee.2023.16.2.n
    keywords:
    Eccrine glands, Reverse osmosis, Drought, Human evolution, Dehydration

    A series of immersion experiments has indicated that humans are able to
    absorb sufficient fresh water from sea water by reverse osmosis through
    their eccrine sweat glands to remain fully hydrated without drinking
    anything at all. This unique facility would have enabled our ancestors to survive periods of severe drought.


    :-) Thanks a lot, Gareth!
    Very interesting & intriguing.
    I'd conclude:
    "This unique facility would have enabled our ancestors to stay in
    sea-water for days."
    Do sea-otters have something comparable?

    I'd conclude that neither of you looked at the paper.

    https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/IEE/article/view/16666

    We are land creatures and always have been. You really
    want to spend hours and hours bobbing around in sea
    water? Day after day???

    Homininds ranged well inland, FAR from salt water. Even
    chimpanzees developed strategies for other water sources.

    https://www.kent.ac.uk/news/environment/31891/rainforest-chimpanzees-are-digging-wells-for-cleaner-water


    From the book "Eating Apes" by Dale Peterson
    "Eating Apes is an eloquent book about a disturbing
    secret: the looming extinction of humanity's closest
    relatives, the African great apes—chimpanzees,
    bonobos, and gorillas."

    <https://books.google.com/books?id=AOQlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=clematis+%22in+the+arid+region+of+Tongo%22&source=bl&ots=Ix1w7hFj2w&sig=ACfU3U1k3V2o0mqFLX56FJXbJcG74js1rg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0xe-SqJiDAxXwMzQIHfU3CNcQ6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=
    clematis%20%22in%20the%20arid%20region%20of%20Tongo%22&f=false>

    "Meanwhile, in the arid region of Tongo (in eastern
    Democratic Republic of Congo), chimpanzees carry
    around with them the water-filled roots of a Clematis
    plant, which they use and sometimes share in the style
    of a water bottle."

    This is far more reasonable than the AA fantasy of
    bobbing around in the ocean...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)