The Namaqua sandgrouse, known in Afrikaans as the kelkiewyn, is unique, as the male sandgrouse can absorb water using their belly feathers, according to research by Professors Jochen Mueller and Lorna Gibson of Johns Hopkins University.
This discovery explains how and why these birds evolved to carry this skill. Because of their recent findings, they believed that this new information could help create new artificial materials that can be used for better water storage. With all the new data gathered, they can now support new theories that might control the absorption and release of water.
This article will explore this African bird and how it may change the future of absorbent materials.
What is a Namaqua sandgrouse?
The Namaqua sandgrouse is native to South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia deserts. The male Namaqua sandgrouse has an orange shade in their head that differentiates them from the females, which have more brown and white patterns all over them.
The Namaqua sandgrouse’s primary food source is dry seeds, but it also feeds with leaves, flowers, small fruits, insects, and mollusks infrequently. In creating a nest, the Namaqua sandgrouse builds in the ground far from any water resource by 25 to 30 km.
Namaqua sandgrouses are social creatures outside of the mating season. These birds usually gather in groups and drink in water holes together. To eat, they divide into much smaller groups.
Creating better and sustainable water bottles
Mueller is considering a water bottle or sports backpack design to store a considerable amount of liquid securely. The design will also have a feather-like structure to prevent the water from bouncing around when its owner moves. Mueller believes that runners value a hydration pack or water tank that would achieve this the most.
He also said this could be developed into a better medical swab, as the issue of collecting nasal samples arose during the pandemic.
What makes the Namaqua sandgrouse stand out in science?
The male Namaqua sandgrouse can use its belly feathers to absorb water and travel back to their nest. This trait is very unusual because most birds lose the ability to fly once their feathers are soaked.
Because of this characteristic, the chicks can survive in the wild and mature. This unique quality of male Namaqua sandgrouse has remained a mystery for many years. But because of modern technology, researchers can study the specimen closer.
A discovery that sparked new ideas
A British ornithologist and environmentalist, Edmund Meade-Waldo, noticed a peculiar habit in the captive Namaqua sandgrouse he was breeding in 1896. Male adult birds were plunging with enlarged bellies over to their young after waddling down to the water sources in their cages and settling down in the water.
The young birds would then crawl beneath the older birds’ stomachs and pounce on their feathered tummies. On top of that, the fathers seemed to be carrying water for their chicks to drink.
This idea was initially rejected because he couldn’t provide strong evidence. But similar observations provided the same conclusion over the next 70 years.
Unfolding new details
Two biologists at Cornell University used a scanning electron microscope and tomography machine to examine the structure of the adult male Namaqua sandgrouse’s belly feathers. They first noticed the odd feather structure — which prior scientists recognized, but not in great detail.
Like other birds, Namaqua sandgrouse feathers have a primary shaft that runs through the middle and a fluffy vane that extends outward. Numerous barbs, the feather strands that make up this vane, are further divided into barbules.
When a feather was placed in water, the researchers saw that its barbules were uncoiled and rotated, causing the opposite barbs to overlap and form a dense “forest” of fibers. The barbules lifted the feather from the water while maintaining the forest structure, trapping moisture on the upper surface. Hence, the feather’s original condition was restored after drying.
What did they find out about the Namaqua sandgrouse?
The same substance that makes up hair and fingernails, keratin, makes the barbules on bird feathers. This keratin may be found in the Namaqua sandgrouse in crystalline and amorphous forms. When these phases come into contact with water, they expand in various ways and change shape.
This study reveals that the exact surface tension mechanism that causes water to run up a tube in the capillary also accounts for the feathers’ capacity to retain moisture. As the bird flies, the area between the two barbs is a tube to draw water in and keep it from spilling.
Due to this discovery, future engineering solutions requiring regulated liquid intake, retention, and release can benefit from Mueller and Gibson’s insights. Applications include creating netting for dry places to catch and hold water from dew and fog.
A new era in sustainable product designs
This development in research can be the ice-breaker into much bigger and more sustainable product designs in the future. This will help create, but is not limited to, better water bottles, hydraulic flasks, and other applications in the same form.
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