Activity 9 – Food Procurement and Digestion

I. Objectives
a. To distinguish digestive system of different representative species.
b. To identify the parts of the digestive system of different representative species
c. To describe the processes involved in digestion.

II. Introduction:

The digestive system is a group of organs that work together to change the food you eat into
the energy and nutrients your body needs. After you consume food and liquids, the digestive
system breaks them down into their basic parts: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins.
These basic nutrients are then absorbed into the bloodstream, which carries them to cells
throughout the body. Nutrients provide the cells with the energy they need for growth and
repair. Everything in your body, from your hormones to your heart, needs the nutrients from
the digestive process to work correctly.

It is important to note that animal cells cannot synthesize from simple compounds certain
necessary complex molecules. Instead, certain large organic molecules must serve as
building blocks; such so-called essential dietary components include the vitamins, some
amino acids, and certain fatty substances. In general, higher animals appear to have more
restricted synthetic powers than lower ones and to require a correspondingly greater
number of essential foodstuffs. Microorganisms in the intestines of vertebrates may
synthesize materials essential for the host, so that the food of the latter need not contain
these substances.

Types of food procurement

Because much of animal evolution involves adaptation for the procurement of food, the

extent of the meaning of the term feeding behaviour is not clear. Migratory habits of birds,
for instance, no doubt evolved in part as a result of seasonal food shortages; individual birds
now, however, start migration before food becomes scarce. Migration, therefore, important
though it may be in the feeding ecology of a species, is not considered in this section, which
concentrates on food-directed activities that are enhanced by a need for nutrients in the
body of an individual. For similar reasons, activities such as host finding and acceptance by
internal parasites for themselves or their offspring also are excluded.

Even with these restrictions, the diversity of feeding patterns is bewildering. A useful
classification has been put forward by British zoologists Sir Maurice Yonge and J.A.C. Nicol,
based on the structural mechanisms utilized, although, as Nicol observed, “many animals
make use of a variety of feeding mechanisms, conjointly, or separately as occasion
demands”:
I. Mechanisms for dealing with small particles.

A. Pseudopodial (e.g., many protozoans). Pseudopods consist of fingerlike

projections of the cell membrane and its contents (cytoplasm) that surround and
engulf food.

B. Ciliary (e.g., sponges, bivalve mollusks). Cilia are minute hairlike projections of

cell membranes that, by concerted beating in wave rhythm, set up water currents
or physically move food particles.

C. Tentacular (e.g., certain sea cucumbers). Tentacles are slender, flexible

organs on the head. They may function in sensory perception and in actually
securing food.

D. Mucoid (e.g., many snails, such as Vermetus). In this case, the food particles
become attached to a sticky mucous sheet secreted by special cells.

E. Muscular (e.g., certain coelenterates). In the jellyfish Rhizostoma, pulsations

of the bell-shaped body draw water and food in through perforations in the
arms, then expel the water after the food is removed.

F. Setous (e.g., many small crustaceans, such as copepods). Setae are bristlelike

projections of the cuticle and are found on the appendages of many
invertebrates.

II. Mechanisms for dealing with large particles or masses.

A. For swallowing inactive food, such as bottom deposits (e.g., many polychaete
worms, some fishes).

B. For scraping and boring (e.g., some gastropod and bivalve mollusks).

C. For seizing prey.

1. For seizing and swallowing only (e.g., Hydra, many polychaete worms,

many lower vertebrates).

2. For seizing and masticating (e.g., Crustacea, mammals).

3. For seizing followed by external digestion (e.g., some starfishes, spiders).

(In such cases, the secretory and absorptive surfaces of the digestive system
may be applied to the food by everting [i.e., turning inside out] the stomach,
a method employed by starfish. Alternatively, digestive enzymes may be
 Injected into the prey, liquefying the tissues, which may then be ingested by
the predator. This mechanism is found in spiders.)

III. Mechanisms for taking in fluid or soft tissues.

A. For piercing and sucking (e.g., leeches, mosquitoes).

B. For sucking only (e.g., many flies, butterflies).

C. For absorption through surface of body (e.g., various invertebrates feeding on

decaying organic matter, internal parasites such as tapeworms, which lack a
digestive tract).

Invertebrate Digestive System

Animals have evolved different types of digestive systems break down the different types of
food they consume. Invertebrates can be classified as those that use intracellular digestion
and those with extracellular digestion.

Intracellular Digestion

The simplest example of digestion intracellular digestion, which takes place in a

gastrovascular cavity with only one opening. Most animals with soft bodies use this type of
digestion, including Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Ctenophora (comb jellies), and Cnidaria
(coral, jelly fish, and sea anemones). The gastrovascular cavities of these organisms contain
one open which serves as both a “mouth” and an “anus”.

Ingested material enters the mouth and passes through a hollow, tubular cavity. The food
particles are engulfed by the cells lining the gastrovascular cavity and the molecular are
broken down within the cytoplasm of the cells (intracellular).

Figure 1 - Invertebrates with Extracellular Digestion:

Invertebrates like grasshoppers have alimentary canals with specialized compartments for digestion.
Their food is broken down in their digestive tract (extracellular digestion), rather than
inside their individual cells (intracellular digestion).
Extracellular Digestion

The alimentary canal is a more advanced digestive system than a gastrovascular cavity and
carries out extracellular digestion. Most other invertebrates like segmented worms
(earthworms), arthropods (grasshoppers), and arachnids (spiders) have alimentary canals. The
alimentary canal is compartmentalized for different digestive functions and consists of one tube
with a mouth at one end and an anus at the other.

Once the food is ingested through the mouth, it passes through the esophagus and is stored in
an organ called the crop; then it passes into the gizzard where it is churned and digested. From
the gizzard, the food passes through the intestine and nutrients are absorbed. Because the food
has been broken down exterior to the cells, this type of digestion is called extracellular
digestion. The material that the organism cannot digest is eliminated as feces, called castings,
through the anus.

Most invertebrates use some form of extracellular digestion to break down their food.
Flatworms and cnidarians, however, can use both types of digestion to break down their food.

Figure 2 – Extracellular digestion in Amoeba

Any of the systems used by invertebrates for the process of digestion. Included are
vacuolar and channel-network systems, as well as more specialized saccular and
tubular systems.
Vacuolar systems

Protozoa : Unicellular organisms that ingest food particles via vacuoles rely on intracellular

digestion to prepare the nutrients for use. The enzymes that catalyze this digestion, being
very potent chemicals capable of breaking down the cell substance itself, are held until
needed in special packets, or vesicles, called lysosomes; the membrane of a lysosome is both
impermeable to the enzymes and capable of resisting their hydrolytic action. Soon after a
food vacuole is formed, a lysosome fuses with it (Figure 1). Food material and digestive
enzymes are mixed in the resulting composite vesicle, which is sometimes called a digestive
 vacuole. This vacuole moves in an orderly fashion through the cell, during which passage the
products of digestion are absorbed, leaving the indigestible material, which is eventually
expelled.

Figure 3 – Intracellular digestion in unicellular organism

The role of lysosomes in intracellular digestion
Digestion in protozoan organisms such as amoebas and paramecia takes place when a
food particle is encased in a food vacuole. The vacuole and a lysosome unite, forming a
digestive vacuole, and the products of digestion are absorbed across the vacuolar
membrane. Indigestible wastes are ultimately expelled.

Channel-network system

Porifera : The sponges, among the simplest multicellular organisms, have what amounts to
diversionary water channels that serve to bring water and food to their component cells. The
channels are lined with special cells bearing whiplike structures called flagella that create water
currents. A steady flow of water inward through smaller secondary channels and then out the
main, or excurrent, canal carries with it bits of food. The lining cells capture the food particles
and enclose them in food vacuoles, wherein the matter is digested as in protozoans—by
intracellular means.

Figure 4 – Intracellular digestion in Sponge

The body of a sponge is shaped like a cup. On the inside of this cup, there are cells called
“Choanocytes, also called collar cells. They have a collar surrounding their flagella.
Water flows in through the pores and out through the top. The Choanocytes shake their
flagella to keep the water flowing through the sponge, and their collars “catch”
microscopic organisms, because said collars are adhesive. There is often an Archaeocyte, a “food
transporting” cell,
 nearby, ready to digest and hand out those nutrients to the rest of the sponge.

Saccular systems

Coelenterates/ Cnidaria : With the evolution of multicellular organisms came a corresponding

evolution of cellular specialization, resulting in a division of labour among cells; in this way,
certain cells became specialized to perform the function of digestion for the entire
organism. Cnidarians, especially hydra, provide a simple example. These radially symmetrical
animals have a saclike body composed of two principal layers of cells. The cells of the outer
layer function as a protective and sensory covering (epithelium); those of the inner layer, or
gastrodermis, which lines the central cavity of the body, act as a nutritive epithelium. The
central cavity, functioning as a digestive cavity, has only one opening to the outside; the
opening acts both as a mouth for ingestion and as an anus for egestion. Such a digestive cavity
is called a gastrovascular cavity, because in many animals it has vessel-like branches that
convey the contents to all parts of the body.

Once prey, captured by a hydra’s tentacles, has been passed through the mouth into the
gastrovascular cavity, digestive enzymes are secreted into the cavity by the gastrodermal cells,
and extracellular digestion begins. In cnidarians, this extracellular digestion is limited largely to
partial hydrolysis of proteins. As soon as the food has been partially disintegrated, the
gastrodermal cells engulf the fragments by phagocytosis, and digestion is completed
intracellularly within food vacuoles.

Figure 5 – Steps in Digestion (Hydra)

Firstly, digestion in hydras starts inside the gastrovascular cavity (coelenteron) when the food is
engulfed (e.g.:water flea).In order to complete the food breakdown, dissolved or partially digested
food particles are then completely digested inside each cells' food vacuoles by enzymes; having
passed through the gastrodermis.

Platyhelmithes : Many flatworms also have gastrovascular cavities, even though their bodies

are much more complex than those of cnidarians. In planarians, for example, the mouth
opens into a tubular chamber called the pharynx, which in turn leads into a branched
gastrovascular cavity that ramifies throughout the body. As in cnidarians, some extracellular
digestion occurs in the planarian gastrovascular cavity, with the small food particles then
being engulfed by gastrodermal cells and digested intracellularly. The additional process of
 extracellular digestion frees cnidarians and flatworms from exclusive reliance on intracellular
digestion.

Tubular systems

Most animals above the level of cnidarians and flatworms have a complete digestive tract; i.e.,
a tube with two openings—a mouth and an anus. There are obvious advantages of such a
system over a gastrovascular cavity, among them the fact that food moves in one direction
through the tubular system, which can be divided into a series of distinct sections, each
specialized for a different function. A section may be specialized for mechanical breakdown of
bulk food, for temporary storage, for enzymatic digestion, for absorption of the products of
digestion, for reabsorption of water, and for storage of wastes. The overall result is
greater efficiency, as well as the potential for special evolutionary modifications for different
modes of existence.

Nematoda: The digestive system of an earthworm is an example of a tubular system. Food, in

the form of decaying organic matter mixed with soil, is drawn into the mouth by the sucking
action of a muscular pharynx. From the pharynx and then through a connecting passage, called
the esophagus, the food enters a relatively thin-walled storage chamber, or crop. Next, the
food enters the gizzard, a compartment with thick muscular walls, and is ground up by a
churning action, the grinding often being facilitated by bits of stone taken in with the food. The
pulverized food, suspended in water, then passes into the long intestine, in which digestion and
absorption take place. Most of the digestion is extracellular; cells of the intestinal lining secrete
hydrolytic enzymes into the cavity of the intestine, and the end products of digestion, the
simple compounds from which large molecules are formed, are absorbed. Finally, toward the
rear of the intestine, some of the water is reabsorbed, and the indigestible residue is ultimately
eliminated through the anus.

Figure 6 – Earthworm’s Digestive System

 
Mollusca : Not all large animals eat and grind up large pieces of food. Many
are filter feeders; i.e., they strain small particles of organic matter from water.
Clams and many other mollusks filter water through tiny pores in their gills and trap
microscopic food particles in streams of mucus that flow along the gills and enter the mouth;
the mucus is kept moving by beating cilia. In such mollusks, digestion is largely intracellular, as
might be expected in animals that eat microscopic food. Current theory holds that the earliest
vertebrates were filter feeders.

Figure 5 – Clam’s Digestive System

Arthropoda : Members of this phyla have all feeding types. They have specialized mouthparts or
appendages that aid in their type of feeding. They also exhibit extracellular digestion, They are also
provided with complete digestive system. Smaller crustaceans are filter feeders, catching particles in
bristles on their appendages. Some have specialized appendages to push food towards their mouths.
Nutrients passedto an open circulatory system.

Digestive System of Grasshopper: As grasshopper is an invertebrateanimal it is dissected from the dorsal

side. The digestive system consists of:

1.Alimentary Canal 2.Salivary glands.

Figure 6 – Parts of the Grasshopper’s Digestive Sytem

1. Alimentary Canal: The Alimentary Canal or gut is divided into three mainregions, namely.

a. Fore Gut: There are four parts of fore gut, e.g.

 i.  Mouth Opening: At the anterior end of fore gut there is a mouth
opening through which food enters. Around the mouth opening, there
are mouth appendages.

ii.  Pharynx: It is smaller in size and located just behind the mouth opening.

iii. Oesophagus: First part of oesophagus is narrow and the hind portion

being expanded to form sac-like structure known as crop. Here the food
is partially digested and stored.

 iv. Gizzard: Posterior to the crop, is gizzard. It is thick walled, muscular andmore

or less cone shaped. Gizzard grinds and crushes the food.

b. Mid Gut or Mesenteron: The next part behind the gizzard is mid gut orstomach. It is
large wide sac where food is digested. At the junction of gizzard and stomach a
number of gastric caeca are present. This caeca open into the mid gut and secrete
enzymes.

  c. Hind Gut: The hind portion of the gut is known as hind gut. It has two region, e.g.

i. Ileum or Small Intestine: It is tubular portion. Absorption of digested

food occurs here.

ii. Large Intestine: Next to ileum, it is large intestine consists of a tubularcolon

and sac- like rectum. At the end of rectum lies the anal opening. In
rectum undigested food is stored as faeces which come out through anus.

2. Salivary Glands: Closely associated with the oesophagus and crop, there area pair of small
branched salivary glands which secrete saliva and open to the buccal cavity.

Echinodermata : Most of them have a relatively simple digestive system that consists of
mouths, stomachs, intestines, and anuses.

The starfish is a marine echinoderm that has five or mare arms that radiate around its body. 
These arms may be used for motion, and for opening up the shells of mollusks for
consuming.  Food is consumed through the mouth, and in some species the stomach may
come out of the mouth as a tube directly to the main part of the stomach.   The food then
goes to the pyloric ceca, or digestive glands, and the stomach produces enzymes which
break down the food.  Nutrients absorbed through this process are circulated around the
body, and other particles are excreted.
 Figure 7 – Starfish Digestive System

Sea urchins are small, rounded and spiny animals usually found on the ocean floor.  These
organisms usually feed on algae.  The sea urchin has a mouth with five teeth with a fleshy
substance that is considered a tongue.  Food particles enter the mouth and are cut and
chewed by the teeth, then brought down the esophagus, to the stomach.  The stomach is
divided into two parts, the cardiac and the pyloric.  First the food goes to the cardiac
stomach in order to be broken down.  Then it moves to the pyloric stomach where nutrients
are absorbed and excess particles are excreted from the anus at the top of the urchin.

Figure 8 – Sea urchin Digestive System

The sea cucumber is an echinoderm that moves along the sea floor or with the current.   It
was a thick, worm-like body and has tentacles located around the mouth.  This is where the
first part of digestion occurs.  Organisms or other particles get trapped by the tentacles
around the mouth which brings the food into the mouth.  The sea cucumber then swallows
the food into the pharynx, then the esophagus, which leads to the stomach.  Here the food is
broken down and digested; nutrients are absorbed, and waste particles go through its
intestines and are eventually excreted from the body.
 Figure 9 – Sea cucumber Digestive System.

Chordata: General characteristics of all chordates: 1.Have a notochord that at some time in
their lives (becomes vertebral column in vertebrates) 2. Posses dorsal tubular nerve cord
that forms the spinal cord 3. With pharyngeal pouches 4. Provided with post-anal tail There
are three subphyla of the phylum chordata: 1. Subphylum Urochordata 2. Subphylum
cephalochordata 3. Subphylum vertebrata

Subphylum Urochordata : Digestive System: Large pharynx with many gill slits (stigmata) for
filter-feeding; food trapped in mucus; food tube short and simple, often U-shaped with anus
near atrial siphon. Urochordates might have evolved their traits in response to strong
evolutionary advantages as specialists of suspension filter feeding.

They are called tunicates because the adult form is covered by a leathery tunic. This tunic
supports and protects the animal. The adults are sessile, stuck to rocks.Most of the space
within the tunicate body is taken up by the atrium (a large cavity). ... The tunicate's pharynx
is covered by tiny hairs (ciliate cells) which allow the consumed food to pass down through
to the oesophagus. The digestive system is U-shaped, the anus emptying directly to the
outside. Nearly all tunicates are suspension feeders, capturing planktonic particles by
filtering sea water through their bodies. ... Water is drawn into the body through the buccal
siphon (incurrent suphon) by the action of cilia lining the gill slits. To obtain enough food, an
average ascidian needs to process one body-volume of water per second.
 Figure 10 – Digestive System of a Tunicate

Subphylum Cephalochordata : Complete type, consists of the alimentary canal and digestive
glands. The alimentary canal is composed of – mouth, oral hood, buccal cavity, pharynx,
oesophagus, intestine, and anus. Ciliary or filter feeder. Digestion starts in the midgut.
Midgut diverticulum and midgut epithelium secretes digestive enzymes like amylase, lipase,
and protease. Digested food is absorbed in the midgut and hindgut and undigested food is
thrown out of the anus.

Figure 11 – Parts of the Digestive Sytsem of Branchiostoma ( Amphioxus)

Subphylum Vertebrata : These are organisms with backbones which is a series of structures
that surround and protect the nerve cord, or spinal cord. Bones that form the backbone are
called vertebrae.

Osteicthyes (Bony Fish) - In most predacious fishes it is a simple straight or curved tube or

pouch with a muscular wall and a glandular lining. Food is largely digested there and leaves
the stomach in liquid form. Between the stomach and the intestine, ducts enter the digestive
tube from the liver and pancreas.

Figure 12 – Parts of the Digestive System of a Bony Fish

Chondrichthyes ( cartilaginous fish) : Sharks and rays are the best examples of this group whose skeleton
is composed of cartlage.Body is covered with tiny scales called placoid scales. Digestive system is
composed of the mouth, pharynx with openings to gill slits and spiracles, short wide esophagus, J-shaped
stomach, intestine, spiral valve which slows food, and large liverthat produces bile to break down fats and
help with buoyancy.

Figure 13 – Parts of a Shark Digestive System

Amphibia : The major organs involved in the process of digestion in frogs include mouth,
pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and cloaca. Accessory organs
such as the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder are also an important part of the digestive
system of frogs. Frogs are predators. After catching their prey, frogs close their eyes and
retract them through the holes in their skull. This helps them push food down the throat.

The digestive system of frogs consists of the digestive tract, which in turn comprises organs
such as the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and cloaca.
Accessory organs and glands such as the tongue, teeth, salivary glands, gastric glands,
pancreas, liver, and gallbladder perform functions that are essential for the process of
digestion. These organs work in tandem to digest or break down the ingested food into
smaller molecules or nutrients, which are easier to absorb and assimilate. These nutrients
are absorbed into the bloodstream, and utilized by the cells and tissues of the body for
carrying out the vital body processes. To get a better understanding of the location of the
organs and functions of the digestive system, a labeled diagram of the digestive system of
frogs has been provided below:
 Figure 14 – Parts of Digestive System of Frog

Reptilia : A reptile is a vertebrate that has dry, scaly skin, lungs, and terrestrial eggs with
several membranes. These characteristics enable reptiles to live their entire lives out of water.
Reptiles eat a wide range of foods. Iguanas eat plants. Snakes eat small animals, bird eggs, or
other snakes. Crocodiles and alligators eat fish and land animals. Chameleons eat insects.

The digestive system of modern reptiles is similar in general plan to that of all higher
vertebrates. It includes the mouth and its salivary glands, the esophagus, the stomach, and
the intestine and ends in a cloaca. Of the few specializations of the reptilian digestive system,
the evolution of one pair of salivary glands into poison glands in the venomous snakes is the
most remarkable.

Figure 15 – Parts of a Digestive System og Lizard

Aves: These are the birds. Body is covered by feathers. Usually with bills.eggs are laid in their
nests. They have two legs, thus, tey are bipedal. With four-chambered hearts. Birds consume
 high-energy foodssuch as insects, seeds, fruits, and nectar. The digestive system is extremely
efficient in absorbing energy from small amounts of foos at a rapid rate.

Figure 16 – Pats of a Digestive Tract of Birds

Mammals : All mammals are endothermic vertebrates with four-chambered heart. Skin is
covered with fur or hair. Most mammals are born alive. Salient characteristics of mammals is
that there is mammary gland that is functional in the females to feed the young.

Digestive system of mammals is consists of a digestive tube, with the mouth as the anterior
opening and the anus as the posterior opening.

From the mouth to the anus, a long (change to a long) and hollow tube exists. In the adult, it
measures 29 – 30 feet in length. This is referred to as the gastrointestinal tract or digestive
tube. The digestive system functions to provide mechanical processing, digestion, absorption
of food, secretion of water, acids, enzymes, buffer salt, and excretion of waste products.
(use Oxford comma)

The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract/digestive tube which includes
esophagus, stomach and intestines. Aside from the main organs of the digestive system,
there are also structures that help the functionality of these main organs in the system
which include the teeth and glandular organs such as salivary glands, liver, gall bladder and
pancreas.

III. Learning Platforms:

Digestive Systems. Lumen Learning.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/digestive-systems/

Virtual frog dissection on digestive system

https://youtu.be/iDRzbRlUzDw

Virtual Dissection of a Fish

https://youtu.be/xuSckL-IPhg
 Virtual Chicken – Digestive System
https://youtu.be/n3BW6m1HyII

Virtual Dissection of Mammalian Digestive System

https://youtu.be/zYCHlrlMp_E

IV. Materials : (Please explain here expectations and limitations in terms of material
procurement.)I won’t explain anymore because I will be removing dissection parts.

1. Modified Zoology Laboratory Manual

2. Tablet / Laptap

V. Procedure:

Digestive System of Fish

1. Watch the link for the virtual dissection of a fish.
https://youtu.be/xuSckL-IPhg
2. Watch closely the following parts:
a. Mouth
b. Esophaus
c. Stomach
d. Intestine
e. Cloaca
f. Anus
g. Pyloric caeca
h. Liver

VI. Digestive System of Frog

Click on the link for the virtual dissection of frog.
https://youtu.be/iDRzbRlUzDw
1. Label the frog’s oral cavity.
a. Glottis
b. Maxillary teeth
c. Vomerine teeth
d. Nostrils
e. Tongue
 Figure 17 – Frog’s Buccal Cavity
VII. Frog’s Buccal Cavity

2. Label the Frog’s Digestive Tract

Figure 18 - Frog’s Digestive Tract

Virtual Dissection of Chicken’s Digestive System

1. Click on the link for the Virtual Dissection of the Chicken.

https://youtu.be/n3BW6m1HyII
2. Label the parts of the chicken’s digestive system
 Figure 19 – Avian Digestive System

Mammalian Digestive System:

1. Click on the link for the Virtual Dissection of mammalian digestive system (pig ).
2. Label the Pig’s Digestive System:

Figure 20 – Pig’s Digestive System

Mechanism of Digestion:
1. Read and analyze very carefully the provided links on the process of digestion.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/digestive-systems/
2. Complete the table below:
Digestive Organ Movement Digestive Food that is
Juice/Enzyme broken down
Mouth
Esophagus
Small Intestine
Pancreas
Liver
Large Intestine
VIII. Guide Questions :
1. Give the special feature of each structures in each of the group of animals below:
Strucures/Parts Fish Amphibia Reptilia Aves Mammals
Mouth Opening

Jaws and Lips

Teeth

Buccal Cavity

Tongue

Oesophagus

Stomach
Small
Intestines
Large
Intestines
Cloaca

Anus

Digestive
Glands
Briefly compare and contrast the digestive system of each animal phylum and
give a special organ unique to each animal representative of each phylum and its
significance.

2. Draw the digestive system of major animal representative in each phylum, label
and give the function of each.
3. Differentiate complete digestive system and incomplete digestive system. What
are the four basic types of digestive systems in animals? Give the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
IX. Conclusion
X. Appendix
XI. References