Explain the role of kidneys in osmoregulation, and why rodents that live in drier habitats tend to have larger kidneys.
What will be an ideal response?
Kidneys control water and salt balance by controlling urine concentration. For humans, who generally have easy access to water, it isn't necessary to conserve water in the kidneys and thus have concentrated urine, unless under brief special circumstances. For rodents in drier habitats, larger kidneys would allow the urine to be more highly concentrated, and would also allow the water that the rodent gets to be conserved.
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