Animal Nutrition

Nutritional requirements
 CARBOHYDRATES
 PROTEINS
 FATS
 VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Carbohydrates

Fats

Proteins
Vitamins and Minerals

Types of Animals Based on Feeding Habits

Substrate-feeders

 Animals that live in or on their food source. Examples: earthworms that feed through the
soil where they live in; caterpillars that eat through the leaves where they live on.

Filter-feeders
 Include many aquatic animals which draw in water and strain small organisms and food
particles present in the medium. Examples: whales and krills
Fluid-feeders
 Suck fluids containing nutrients from a living host. Examples: leeches, head lice, aphids

Bulk-feeders
 Eat relatively large chunks of food and have adaptations like jaws, teeth, tentacles,
claws, pincers, etc. that help in securing the food and tearing it to pieces. Examples:
snakes, cats

Human Digestive System

The Main Stages of Food Processing
 INGESTION
 DIGESTION
 ABSORPTION
 ELIMINATION
Ingestion
 The act of eating or feeding; this is coupled with the mechanical breakdown of food into
smaller pieces allowing for a greater surface area for chemical digestion.

Digestion
 Breakdown of food into particles, then into nutrient molecules small enough to be
chemically digested by enzymes involved in breaking of chemical bonds through the
addition of water, i.e., enzymatic hydrolysis

Absorption
 Passage of digested nutrients and fluid across the tube wall and into the body fluids; the
cells take up (absorb) small molecules such as amino acids and simple sugars.
Elimination
 Expulsion of the undigested and unabsorbed materials from the end of the gut.

The Organs Involved in Digestive System

 Oral Cavity – it is where food is initially chewed into shreds by the teeth, and mixed with
saliva by the tongue. Saliva is secreted into the mouth by three pairs of salivary glands
located above the upper jaw and below the lower jaw.
 Pharynx –the region in the back of the throat that serves as the entrance to the
esophagus that connects to the stomach and trachea (windpipe) that serves as airway to
the lungs.
 Esophagus – connects the pharynx with the stomach. No digestion takes place within
the esophagus but the contractions within its muscular wall propel the food past a
sphincter, into the stomach. The rhythmic waves of contraction of the smooth muscle
wall of the esophagus are called peristalsis. The esophagus is about 25 cm (10 in.)
long.
 Stomach - It has three important functions:
 First, it mixes and stores ingested food.
 Second, it secretes gastric juice that helps dissolve and degrade the food,
particularly proteins.
 Third, it regulates the passage of food into the small intestine
The gastric juice is a combination of HCl and acid-stable proteases.
The churning action of the stomach together with the potent acidity of the gastric juice convert
food into a thick, liquid mixture called chyme.
 Small Intestine - The small intestine is approximately 6 meters long and is composed of
three regions: the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum.
 It is where most enzymatic hydrolysis of the macromolecules from food occurs.
The complete digestion of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins occurs in the
duodenum, about the first 25 cm. of the small intestine.
  The rest of the small intestine is devoted to absorbing water and the products of
digestion into the bloodstream.
 Has Villi and Microvilli
 The Large Intestine or Colon - is much shorter than the small intestine, about 1 meter.
 It concentrates and stores undigested matter by absorbing mineral ions and
water. A small amount of fluid, sodium, and vitamin K are absorbed through its
walls.
 Unlike the small intestine, it does not coil up and does not have villi and has only
one thirtieth of the absorptive surface area of the small intestine.
 The Rectum - a short extension of the large intestine and is the final segment of the
digestive tract. It is where the compacted undigested food from the colon are pushed via
peristaltic contractions. The distention of the rectum triggers expulsion of feces.
 The anus is the terminal opening of the digestive system through which feces are
expelled.

Accessory Organs
 LIVER- secretes the bile
 GALL BLADDER- stores the bile
 PANCREAS- secretes insulin