Dr. Shit Fun Chew on peeing-through-the-mouth

We closely follow the research of Dr. Shit Fun Chew of National Institute of Education, Singapore. Her most recent piece of work is ‘The Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, excretes urea mainly through the mouth instead of the kidney’ [J Exp Biol 2012 215:ii. ; doi:10.1242/jeb.080614]. She and her co-authors write:

This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that the buccophyaryngeal cavity constitutes an important excretory route for urea in P. sinensis. Results indicate that a major portion of urea was excreted through the mouth instead of the kidney during immersion. [...] These results indicate for the first time that buccopharyngeal villiform processes (BVP) and rhythmic pharyngeal movements were involved in urea excretion in P. sinensis.

Apparently, other soft-shelled turtle excrements still leave the body the usual way. We congratulate Dr Shit Fun Chew on this discovery.