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JennaSais t1_itziw9q wrote

Reply to comment by emmyarty in How can the chicks breathe in their shell? by You_Smiled

Great corrections, but one more quick correction (because I want to play too!) They don't wait until they hatch to start breathing, they start breathing when they pip. That is to say, inside the shell, they break the air sac and begin to breathe, and then they make their first hole in the shell. At this stage you can often hear them making their first peeping sounds, even before they've "zipped" (which is when they start pecking a line open around the shell, and the stage at which you can typically catch your first glimpse of the emerging chick.)

I have some quail eggs I'll be setting soon, I'll try to remember to film!

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jcgam t1_itzzhni wrote

It's amazing such complex behaviour is already programmed in, and they don't have to learn it.

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sametrical t1_iu0056x wrote

Was disappointed that you don't also have another quick correction, but I do agree with you that it is amazing

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JennaSais t1_iu05odf wrote

Right? Another fun tidbit is that the earliest chicks' peeping sounds stimulate the latecomers to work to get out as well, so you can see some very early social behaviors with them as well.

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paul_wi11iams t1_iu0m3yx wrote

> you can see some very early social behaviors.

Here's a more cynical take on this:

As a chick, I'd do the same, hatching just after the first. So the first-hatched would keep any predator busy while I get out of my shell and improve my own chances of survival.

It compares to zebras running close-packed, each improving its individual chances because the lion will catch only one.

Edit: Thinking further, I concede that there could be a big overlap between social behavior and selfish gene survival. For example, the first to hatch could be helping out its siblings by offering itself up to a predator.

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LandlordakaThe_Super t1_iu2a1u2 wrote

Although most predators will simply eat an egg because it does not attempt to run away.

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jqbr t1_iu41q3y wrote

Spider behavior is considerably more complex than what's being described here.

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ecksate t1_iu0eun0 wrote

Spectacular corrections, but one small tidbit that's barely related but does break some reasonable assumptions: human babies, at some point in development, do some amount of breathing, and what they breath in and out is amniotic fluid (just for practice, not for gas exchange.)

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Omnizoom t1_iu0s1bx wrote

One extra tidbit to add , our lungs are very capable of exchanging oxygen and co2 with a liquid so even amniotic fluid would be able to do a chemical exchange

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DJBscout t1_iu22iog wrote

So.....why can't I breathe water then? I wanna play fish, damnit.

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Omnizoom t1_iu2n0jh wrote

Because water is a crappy source of oxygen compared to air , but if you were to breathe a oxygen rich fluid that can also absorb co2 then your body will be able to use it

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who-dee-knee1 t1_iu0sxnm wrote

Amazing correction, but I have one more correction…..

Jk, I just wanted to feel included.

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Da_Real_OfficialFrog t1_iu848ga wrote

One more correction actually! I don’t have a correction I just wanted to feel included

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