BIOL 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Gastrointestinal Tract, Cellulase, Cecum
9 Jun 2016
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More complex organisms have an alimentary canal with openings at both ends. We have a one way system because the microorganisms are in cecum. Rabbits have a similar system as horses ; cecum found b/w small and large intestine. However, rabbits have a behavioural adaptation that helps them extract all of the nutrients. Rabbits defecate while they sleep to produce night feces . In fact, a ruminant eating grass or hay obtains many of its nutrients by digesting the mutualistic microorganisms, which reproduce rapidly enough in the rumen to maintain a stable population. Beginning with three outpouchings of the lower esophagus collectively referred to as the forestomach. Where the boluses first enters after a cow first chews and swallows a mouthful of grass. In both the rumen and the reticulum, mutualistic prokaryotes and protists (mainly ciliates) help metabolize the cellulose-rich food.
