Why do ostriches sometimes incubate their eggs selectively? Detailed answer

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Why do ostriches sometimes incubate their eggs selectively? Detailed answer

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Why do ostriches sometimes incubate their eggs selectively?

Most of the day, ostrich eggs are incubated by males, and immediately from many females from the flock. However, the main female is engaged in the distribution of eggs - she lays her own in the center, the eggs of other females along the edges. Once in Kenya, a clutch of ostriches was found, consisting of 78 eggs, of which only 21 were incubated. Such extravagance has a deep biological meaning: numerous predators first of all pick up eggs scattered around the nest, without touching those that lie in its center.

Authors: Jimmy Wales, Larry Sanger

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What is the nitrogen cycle?

All life on earth requires nitrogen in a usable form. It is just as important for plants and animals as it is for humans. Nitrogen is a component of protein, which is a building material for the human body. Without this substance, no one would be able to grow or repair damaged tissue.

While oxygen makes up 21% of the air we breathe, it contains 78% nitrogen. Over one square kilometer of the earth's surface is approximately 7 tons of nitrogen. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is slightly soluble in water. It may seem that since nitrogen is everywhere in the surrounding air, it is very easy for a living being to obtain it. But man cannot consume pure nitrogen. When inhaled, it absorbs oxygen. Therefore, nitrogen is useful only when, in combination with other substances, it forms compounds.

In nature, there are only a few plants that can absorb pure nitrogen from the air. These include legumes: beans, peas and clover. But all plants are able to use simple nitrogen compounds from the soil in which they grow. Therefore, in nature, there is a nitrogen cycle that allows you to support the life of plants and animals. Plants take simple nitrogen compounds from the soil and combine them with carbon to make protein. Animals get nitrogen by eating plants.

Nitrogen returns to the earth in the waste guide. Certain bacteria convert these wastes back into simple nitrogen compounds, and plants can use them again. Thus the cycle ends. Nitrogen reserves are also replenished by bacteria, which take nitrogen from the air and accumulate it in the soil.

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