Herpetologist Carlos Jared of the Instituto Butantan in São Paulo and his colleagues have been studying these eccentric animals for years. In previous studies, the team noticed that ringed caecilian hatchlings, which live their first two months out of the egg in their mother’s care, spent much of their time around the end of her body near the shared opening of the reproductive, digestive and urinary systems — an anatomical part called the vent. The female would periodically expel a thick fluid from the vent, which the young would enthusiastically feed on.

Something I didn’t quite understand after watching the video is in what way the “milk” is expelled or distributed, because maybe it’s because of the camera’s perspective but from what I saw in the video the babies stayed on top of the tail, not underneath, where I guess the vent is located. Could someone explain if I have misunderstood something?