{{Short description|Cooling mechanism in birds}} [[File:Ciconia ciconia -Tsavo East National Park, Kenya-8.jpg|right|thumb|A white stork in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. The lower parts of its legs are covered with whitish droppings]] '''Urohidrosis''' (sometimes misspelled "uroh'''y'''drosis"<ref>{{cite book|author=Elliott, A.|year=1992 | chapter=Family Ciconiidae (Storks)|title=Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1.|editor1=del Hoyo, J |editor2=A. Elliott, J. Sargatal |publisher= Lynx Edicions, Barcelona|pages=441–449}}</ref>) is the habit in some birds of defecating onto the scaly portions of the legs as a cooling mechanism, using evaporative cooling of the fluids. Birds' droppings consist of both feces and urine, which are excreted together through the cloaca.
== Etymology == Hidrosis is the medical term for sweating from Ancient Greek,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newshorteroxford00lesl/page/1231 |title=New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |isbn=0-19-861271-0 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Lesley |page=[https://archive.org/details/newshorteroxford00lesl/page/1231 1231] |url-access=registration}}</ref> and the word "urohidrosis" was coined by M. P. Kahl in 1963:<ref name="kahl">{{cite journal |author=Kahl, M.P. |year=1963 |title=Thermoregulation in the Wood Stork, with special reference to the role of the legs |journal=Physiol. Zool. |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=141–151|doi=10.1086/physzool.36.2.30155437 }}</ref><blockquote>...Because of its apparent functional similarity to true sweating, I suggest the term ''urohidrosis'' (Greek: ''ouron'' = urine; ''hidrōs'' = sweat) for this phenomenon.</blockquote>
== Examples == Several species of storks and New World vultures exhibit this behaviour.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Sibley |first1=Charles G. |title=Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfjAvuxL-9wC&dq=urohidrosis&pg=PA513 |pages=513 |publication-date=1991 |year=1990 |access-date=2007-09-09 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-04085-7 |last2=Ahlquist |first2=Jon E. |author-link1=Charles Sibley |author2-link=Jon Ahlquist}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ventana Wildlife Society - Cool Condor Facts |url=http://www.ventanaws.org/species_condors_coolfacts/ |access-date=2007-08-14 |publisher=Ventana Wildlife Society}}</ref> This behaviour leads to accumulation of droppings around leg rings on ringed birds, which can lead to injury.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Henckel, R.E. |year=1976 |title=Lesions associated with fecal accumulation on leg bands in Turkey Vultures. |journal=American Bird Bander |volume=1 |pages=126}}</ref>
The term is also used to describe the analogous behaviour in seals that cool themselves while basking by urinating on their hind flippers.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gentry, Roger L. |year=1973 |title=Thermoregulatory Behavior of Eared Seals |journal=Behaviour |volume=46 |issue=1&2 |pages=73–93 |doi=10.1163/156853973x00175}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|2}} {{Commons category|Urohidrosis}}
Category:Bird behavior
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