Lighters breathe like birds

2010/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia

In an article published in the journal Science, researchers at the University of Utah explain the functioning of the breathing apparatus of lighters. It has been shown that in the respiratory apparatus of these animals the air circulates in one sense, as in birds.

In people and other mammals, air enters and leaves the lungs like marine tides. In birds, on the contrary, the circulation of air is unidirectional, something that scientists knew long ago. However, they did not suspect this in the lighters.

According to the researchers, similarity shows that in early Triassic birds and lighters had the same ancestors (arcoauri). It can also explain why these animals were imposed in the early Triassic when the atmospheric oxygen concentration was 12%.