Caecilians are amphibians that look superficially like very large earthworms. New research suggests that at least one species of caecilian also produces "milk" for its hatchlings.Photo by Carlos Jared
Most people look at caecilians and think EWW. They are worm-like amphibians and although they have very adorable faces they are a more secretive animal and are often overlooked. Marta Antoniazzi, a biologist at the Instituto Butantan, in Sao Paulo, Brazil has been working with Siphonops annulatus for quite some time now. They noticed that while the babies fed on the mothers shed skin weekly, they were too active for that to be their sole source of nutrition. So they did what anyone would do. Set up a camera and waited.
"The babies prefer to go to the tail of the mother," he says.
And that's when they saw it. A secretion coming from the tail: "A kind of substance, like milk."
Upon further study, the team found that the milk contained lipids and sugars similar to mammalian milk. It was essentially providing the same function.
"It's a very unusual form of nutrition" for an egg-laying animal, says Mailho-Fontana.
Is it really milk? Well, that is up in the air for now, but it is a nutrition source for the babies provided by mom. For the full story as well as a link to the study, click here!
