Are humans the only animal that requires "clean water"?

Question

I've seen a number of animals - dogs, cats, squirrels, ducks and geese, etc drink from puddles, some of them were muddy, others had green flora growing under water. Same goes for lakes and rivers. A human would not drink that. Do animals experience gastrointestinal discomfort or can they die from drinking water like that? At the same time I hear about the problem of "clean water" in 3rd world countries and how diarrhea is the #1 killer of children under 5. Are humans the only animals that require a certain purity of their drinking water? Why is it that a dog can drink from a puddle, but a human is likely to get sick from doing the same? Do baby animals get sick from drinking "dirty" water?

Answer 1

Well there are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to drinking water and health. So first we need to figure out with in water would cause humans to get sick or die? So that would be things like toxic metals (lead, mercury etc. ) Waste productions from the food for factories and particular pathogens that cause infection. As well as pollution that turn rain water acidic. Next you have data to show that animals that routinely drink water in those conditions show any adverse health effects. Looking at anecdotal example of one time occurrences or even several doesn't really give you good enough data to work with. So for the mud puddle example I it would be suggested against drink from that, but chance are your not likely to just get sick or die from doing it once. For clarification between human babies and animal babies. Most mammals get water from their mothers milk until they are able to eat on their own. It more variant with humans babies.