284 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 194 



that she never took water during 2i/2 years. Very rarely did she 

 show the slightest interest in eating any moist vegetation. She 

 subsisted almost entirely on dry seeds. The one now living on my 

 desk likewise abstains from water and eats very little green food. 

 My grasshopper mouse, "Ony," will take water occasionally but 

 will frequently go for intervals of a month or more without drinking. 

 It is likely that in the wild state the blood or body fluids of its 

 victims would supply one of these animals with most of its required 

 moisture. To make certain that my pets never suffer for moisture 

 I regularly make lettuce or other green material available to them. 



Camels take considerable water when they have the opportunity. 

 Instead of being stored in large cavities as some of the early zoolo- 

 gists led us to believe, this water is really kept in small cells in a 

 semiporous lining of the stomach. The absence of sweat glands in 

 the skin of the camel reduces greatly the loss of water from evapora- 

 tion. The camels' nostrils are slits that can be closed. They lead 

 into a gi"oove in the upper lip that enters the mouth, this arrange- 

 ment making it possible for drainage from the nostrils to be returned 

 to the body. 



Antelopes, deer, bighorn sheep, and other desert animals not only 

 survive but thrive for considerable periods without drinking. How- 

 ever, they usually find some vegetation that contains moisture in 

 small quantities. Many desert creatures do not know how to drink 

 in the ordinary manner. Frequently they stick their noses into the 

 water and strangle, without getting their mouths into it. More often 

 they dip their hands in the water and lick their fingers. 



On one occasion I observed a thirsty prairie dog (Gynomys) put 

 his nose into a pan of water. He held his head down at such an 

 angle that his nose went into the water but his mouth did not. He 

 sat up wiped his wet nose with his hand, sneezed, then dropped 

 down on all four feet and put his head at a flatter angle so that ho 

 was able to drink. This is quite a common mistake made by the 

 little animals that are not accustomed to drinking or that drink at 

 only very rare intervals. They probably sip or lap up drops of dew 

 on the rare occasions when dew occurs in their region. In captivity 

 the little fellows can be given water on a bit of lettuce leaf or a 

 saturated wisp of absorbent cotton. 



Amphibians and certain lizards do not drink. They obtain water 

 by absorbing it through the skin. I have placed an emaciated lizard 

 of this kind in a pan of shallow water and watched its skin take up 

 the moisture like a blotter. 



MAKING HOMES OR USING SHELTERS 



Just as every animal has a fairly definite territory within which 

 it lives, so also it usually has a house or shelter of some sort. Some 



