Urination

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have been watching animals pee. For science, not because they’ve joined an interesting new fetish community. And they’ve come to an interesting conclusion. All animals over about 6.6 pounds get their bladders emptied in about the same time, 20 seconds. That means that even though the mighty elephant has a bladder 3,600 times larger than a cat, he can empty his enormous 18 liter bladder with firehose-like force to get it done at the same time. “It’s possible because larger animals have longer urethras,” said David Hu, the Georgia Tech assistant professor who led the study. “The weight of the fluid in the urethra is pushing the fluid out. And because the urethra is long, flow rate is increased.” And there’s a very good reason to have a longer urethra, and thus a more pressurized stream, the bigger you get. “If its urethra were shorter, the elephant would urinate for a longer time and be more susceptible to predators,” Hu explained. The scientists watched