8/9/2020 Nutrition in Animals

Different Ways of Taking Food

Each species or type of organism has their own way of taking in food.
Bees and hummingbirds suck nectar of plants, infant of humans and some animals
feed on mother's milk, Snakes like python swallow the animals they prey upon.
Aquatic animals filter tiny food particles floating nearby and feed on them.

Hummingbird sucking nectar from a flower

Digestion in Humans
The digestive tract and the associated glands together constitute the digestive system
in humans.
This constitutes the whole path along which food passes through the body, starting
from the mouth and ending at the anus.
The digestive tract includes the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large
intestine.
Salivary glands, liver and pancreas are the major digestive glands.

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22481 1/6
8/9/2020 Nutrition in Animals

Human Digestive Tract

Buccal Cavity

The buccal cavity is more commonly known as the mouth, and it is the beginning of
the digestive system for humans.
It consists of the tongue and teeth.
Teeth: Helps in chewing food and breaking down food into smaller particles. 
Tongue: Fleshy muscular organ attached at the back to the floor of the buccal cavity.
Saliva is secreted in the mouth and helps in the break down of food.

Tongue

It is a fleshy muscular organ attached to the back of the floor of the buccal cavity.
It helps in mixing saliva with food while chewing and aids in swallowing.
The tongue possesses tastes buds that help us recognise different tastes.

Tooth Decay

Bacteria present in mouth break down the sugars present from the leftover food and
release acid.
These acids gradually damage the teeth and results in tooth decay.

Oesophagus or food pipe

The swallowed food passes into the oesophagus.

It is a muscular tube, about 25 cm long, with a sphincter (valve/opening) at each end.
Its function is to transport food and fluid, after being swallowed, from the mouth to
the stomach.
Food is pushed down by movement of the wall of the food pipe. 

Oesophagus in the human body

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22481 2/6
8/9/2020 Nutrition in Animals

Stomach

The stomach is thick-walled bag-like structure.

Its receives food from the food pipe and opens into the small intestine at the other
opening.
The inner lining of the stomach secretes mucus, hydrochloric acid and digestive juices.
Food is churned into semi-solid mass in the stomach.
Enzymes present in the gastric juice break down the food.
Hydrochloric acid helps in partial digestion of proteins and also kills harmful bacteria.

Small Intestine

This is a highly coiled organ of 7.5 metres length.

It receives secretion from the liver and pancreas.
Complete digestion and absorption of food take place in the small intestine.
The inner walls of the intestine have finger-like outgrowth called villi.
Villi increase the surface area for absorption of food.
Each villus has a small network of blood vessels.
Absorbed food by villi is transferred to the body via blood vessels.

Villi and microvilli of the small intestine

Large Intestine

It is wider and shorter than the small intestine.

It is 1.5m in length.
Absorption of water and salt from undigested food occurs in the large intestine.
Remaining waste matter is passed out through the rectum.
Time to time, faecal matter is removed through the anus (egestion).

Anus

The anus is the opening at the end of the human digestive tract.

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22481 3/6
8/9/2020 Nutrition in Animals

The removal of faecal matter from the large intestine occurs through the anus and this
process is called egestion.

Saliva and Salivary glands

Three pairs of salivary glands are present around the mouth and they pour their
secretion, saliva, into the mouth by salivary ducts.
Saliva has mucous and salivary amylase.
Mucous helps in easy passage of food through the food pipe.
Salivary amylase is an enzyme responsible for breaking of starch content of food into
simpler sugars.

Gall Bladder

The gallbladder is a small pear-shaped organ present under the liver, on the right side
of the body. 
It stores bile juice secreted by the liver.
Bile plays an important role in the digestion of fats.

Ingestion

The process of taking food into the body is called ingestion

Digestion

The breakdown of complex components of food into simpler substances is called

digestion.

Partial digestion takes place in the stomach and complete digestion takes place in the
intestine.

Absorption & Assimilation in Small Intestine

The digested food is taken up by the blood vessels lining the wall of the small intestine.
This process is called absorption.
The inner walls of the small intestine have thousands of finger-like outgrowths called
villi.
The absorbed substances are transported via blood vessels to different organs of the
body where they are used to build complex substances such as the proteins required
by the body. This is called assimilation.

Digestion in Grass Eating Animals

Digestive system in grass eating animals is different from that of humans.
These animals are chewing continuously even when they are not eating.

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22481 4/6
8/9/2020 Nutrition in Animals

They swallow the grass very fast and store it in a chamber called Rumen.
In the rumen, the bacteria partially digest the food and now it is called as cud.
Later, cud returns to the mouth and animal chew it again slowly.
This process is called as rumination and the animals are called as ruminants.
They also have very long small intestine which helps in complete digestion of cellulose,
the main component of grass.

Cud

Partially digested food, returned from rumen into the mouth, for further chewing is
called as cud. 

Rumination

 Rumination is the process by which the cattle regurgitates previously consumed feed

and masticates it a second time.

Feeding and Digestion in Amoeba

Amoeba

Amoeba is microscopic single-celled organism found in pond water.

Amoeba constantly changes its shape and position.

Process of Digestion in Amoeba

Amoeba captures the food particles with the help of pseudopodia. The process is
called as phagocytosis.
A food vacuole is thus created with the food material inside.
Digestive juices are secreted into the food vacuole when it is moving through the
cytoplasm.
They act on the food and break it down into simpler substances and the digested food
is absorbed. 
Finally, the food vacuole opens to the outside and undigested food is released into
surrounding water.

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22481 5/6
8/9/2020 Nutrition in Animals

Digestion in Amoeba

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22481 6/6