Thursday, January 14, 2010

Alligators breathe like birds, scientists say
[ Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:04:02 GMT ]

Computerized tomographic (CT) X-ray images of side and top views of a 24-pound American alligator, with 3-D renderings of the bones and of airways or bronchi within the lungs. A University of Utah study found that air flows in one direction through a gator's lungs. It flows from the first-tier bronchi through second-tier bronchi (blue), then through tube-like third-tier parabronchi (not shown) and then back through other second-tier bronchi (forest green).Alligators breathe like birds, scientists have discovered. The discovery and its implications for understanding the development of life on Earth millions of years ago are detailed in the Jan. 15 issue of the journal Science.


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