At least 17 million women and children had to walk to get water today. In some parts of the

world, there's no drinkable water in reach, and so every day, someone has to go get it. For these

people, the average distance walked was 3.7 miles round trip, 6 kilometers.

On the way back from the water source, each woman carried about 5 gallons of water.

That's 44 pounds of weight, typically in a can balanced on her head.

On Friday, I actually had to drive to go by a refillable five-gallon jug of water because my local tap water is apparently susceptible to some issues.

And I remember I struggled a bit to hold it at the right angle to scan at the self-checkout.

In my absurdly privileged life, this is what passes for a hassle.

Meanwhile, millions of women carry the same weight nearly two miles as a matter of routine.

It's not because their tap water breaks, it's because if they don't do it, they won't drink at all.

17 million women and children walked to get water today, because if they didn't do it,

they would die. And tomorrow they'll do it again.

Traveling to and from a water source to bring back water, not just for yourself, but for others,

is a highly unusual thing for an animal to do.

But we humans aren't the only creatures who do it.

While this lifestyle is uncommon in our species, today we're going to talk about

another species where this is the natural mode of being. The sandgrouse, specifically the

Namakwa sandgrouse. Terakles, Namakwa. I'm Mackin.

This is Species.

Welcome to the show.

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