I will be doing reserach on the digestive system of carnivores, so as to compare it with the digestive system of herbiore and omnivore. Carnivores include cheetah, lion, leopard, jaguar, dog and many more get more nutrients from their food, so they do not need to spend as much time eating as herbivores do. They have sleek bodies, strong, sharp claws and keen senses of smell, hearing and sight. They are also often cunning, alert and have an aggressive nature.Their digestive system is shorter than that of herbivores for the same reason.
The first thing to note about the digestive system of all carnivores is that they are extremely similar and they all function in exactly the same way. Although they will be of different lengths, because carnivorous animals come in different sizes, the overall length of carnivores' digestive tracts are rather short: about six times the length of the animal's body.
Carni
vores have incisors, canines and molar teeth in both jaws, and the molars are ridged. Carnivores need long canine teeth (the teeth at the corners of the mouth) so they can grip and kill prey quickly.Their incisors strip flesh from bones. The jaw moves up and down. This fact, together with the ridging of the molars indicates that they are used for tearing or crushing. The salivary glands serve merely to lubricate, and do not have an important digestive function. Food is rarely chewed into small portions, but 'wolfed' down whole.
vores have incisors, canines and molar teeth in both jaws, and the molars are ridged. Carnivores need long canine teeth (the teeth at the corners of the mouth) so they can grip and kill prey quickly.Their incisors strip flesh from bones. The jaw moves up and down. This fact, together with the ridging of the molars indicates that they are used for tearing or crushing. The salivary glands serve merely to lubricate, and do not have an important digestive function. Food is rarely chewed into small portions, but 'wolfed' down whole. Carnivores' stomach serves two purposes in their digestive system. Firstly it is a reservoir. Although relatively small, this is all that is needed, as the food of a carnivore, wholly of meat and fat, is nutrient dense, allowing one small meal to suffice for many hours. The second function of the stomach is to subject the food to concentrated solution of hydrochloric acid, which dissolves and liquefies it. Only food that is dissolved can be digested.The ones that cannot be digested - raw vegetable matter, cellulose and bone - pass right through the animal unchanged, those that are too big to pass into the small intestine are vomited. The dog's stomach, if filled with its normal food of meat and fat will empty in about three hours. So far very little digestion has taken place.
I will continue the research on the digestive system of carnivore on the next post and be sure to check out for it.
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