One often thinks that he's the supreme and knows the entire world after he crosses barely three to four decades. Same is the case with frog, which dwells in the well and thinks that the well is the world. But, friends, there's so much around us, which we don't know. Probably what we know is pinch and what we ought to know is vast. Anyway, amongst the things that not many of us know, the turtle that urinates through its mouth is our today's topic.

A professor name Alex Ip of the National University (Singapore) was surprised when he got to know about these turtles, which urinate through mouth. In order to find out if it was true, he placed four turtles in water tanks for about a week. For each turtle there was a tube attached to cloaca (from where turtles urinate). And to his surprise, only six per cent of the turtles' urea came from cloaca while the remaining was mixed in the water. In order to get more accuracy, he took the turtles out and placed buckets with some water in front of them. These turtles have put their heads in the buckets to drink. And, the scientist observed that the water in the buckets contained urea as these turtles spat the water.  Although fish excrete through gills, this was probably for the first time that scientists came to know that this rare species excretes urea through mouth.

Guess what? This turtle is one of the most delicious dishes in China, where they are found. So, if you are a food enthusiast and happens to visit China, do drop in at any average Chinese restaurant and order  Chinese soft-shell turtle.

(AW Phani)