1 animals
Dipodomys spp.
The kangaroo rat never drinks. It lives in the deserts of North America and can complete an entire life without a sip of water, extracting everything it needs from dry seeds — partly as the trace of moisture inside them, and mostly as metabolic water, produced as a by-product when its cells burn the seeds' carbohydrates. That only works because of what it does at the other end. Its kidneys are among the most efficient of any mammal, concentrating urine almost to a paste, and its nasal passages act as a heat exchanger, condensing moisture out of its own breath before it can be exhaled and reclaiming water that any other mammal would simply throw away. It plugs the entrance of its burrow during the day, trapping humid air inside, and forages only at night. It is bipedal, hopping on long hind legs with the tail as a counterweight, and it can leap explosively — often straight up — to escape a striking rattlesnake, which it detects from the ground vibrations alone.
