It Takes 21 Seconds On Average For Mammals To Pee
The bladder of an elephant can hold almost 18 litres of fluid but the elephant has the remarkable ability to pee just as fast as a cat.
According to the results of a new study, most mammals greater in size than rats take the same amount of time to urinate, for approximately 21 seconds. This is because urethras are scaled up to become a flow enhancing device the researches said.
It is hoped that the efficient natural design for a system that quickly empties the bladder will serve as an inspiration for smarter engineering of reservoirs, water tanks and fire hoses.
From toddlers to zoo animals
Dr. David Hu of the Georgia Institute of Technology said he has a little child and when changing her diaper began thinking about the amount of urine that an elephant would have which was the inspiration behind the research.
Dr. Hu and his team looked at the two places it is easy to find fauna so that they could compare peeing rates across the animal kingdom. The researches visited zoos and looked at 28 videos of animals urinating on YouTube.
The researchers found that smaller animals who weighed less than 3 kilograms are unable to urinate in streams and instead peeid in a series of quick drops. In contrast, larger animals would release jets of urine and most took roughly 21 seconds to pee.
Dr. Hu said what was most interesting is that larger animals such as elephants took just as much time to relieved themselves as smaller animals such as a cat whose bladder capacity is just 5 millilitres.
How it all comes out
The most important factor is the how long the urethra is according to the researchers. As the size of an animal gets larger, the urethra gets longer at a predictable ratio.
“All animals have urethras of the same aspect ratio: a length-to-width ratio of 18. This is rare among animals. Usually, body parts change in relative size, such as the eyes and brain.”Dr. Hu said.
A longer urethra means an increased effect of gravity that causes more pressure in the bladder which pushes out the urine faster the researchers said.
