Terrestrial animals are generally either ureotelic or uricotelic, not ammonotelic, why ?
Explanation Let us understand the terms, Terrestrial animals: Animals that live on land alone. E.g. cat, spider, etc Ureotelic: Excrete waste nitrogen in the “form of urea” Uricotelic: Excrete nitrogenous waste in the “form of uric acid” Ammonotelic: Excrete nitrogenous waste in the “form of ammonia”. It is because of the below two reasons terrestrial animals are generally ureotelic or uricotelic. Reason 1: Conversion of highly toxic ammonia into low toxic uric acid or urea. Reason 2: Ammonia is soluble in water and hence, this is impossible since terrestrial animals need to conserve water. Ammonia cannot be continuously eliminated since terrestrial animals need to conserve water. Final Answer Considering the fact that terrestrial animals should conserve the water, they cannot excrete the waste in highly toxic form like ammonia which is also soluble in water. This impossible nature makes terrestrial animals to be either ureotelic or uricotelic.
