Chapter 12

ZOOLOGY 200
Digestive System
• Functions:
1. Mechanical breakdown
2. Chemical Digestion
3. Absorption of soluble nutrients
4. Elimination of undigested food
5. Detoxification of toxins
6. Elimination
Digestive Tract
• Passageway of our food
• Actual digestive process takes place
• MOUTH
• ANUS
Digestive Glands
• Accessory Digestive organs
• Aid digestion through their secretion
• Liver, pancreas and salivary glands
Digestive Processes
• Ingestion
• Mastication
• Deglutition
• Digestion
• Absorption
• Circulation
• Assimilation
• Egestion
Gastric Gland
Secretion:
• Psychic
• Gastric phase- touching and coming contact of food to the walls of the stomach, thus stimulating
the gastric glands to release gastric juice.
• Intestinal Phase- Acidic chime touches the walls of the intestine, gastric glands become more
stimulated secrete more gastric juices.
Types of Digestive System:
• Incomplete Digestive Tract
• Complete Digestive Tract
Invertebrates
• Protozoans- digestive vacuoles
- intracellular digestion
• Porifera - Schizocoel and choanocytes
intracellular digestion
• Coelenterata- Gastrovascular cavity (enteron)
serve as incomplete digestive tube
intacellular and extracellular digestion
• Platyhelminths- incomplete
• Echinoderms- ring canal
• Arthropods- complete
• Mollusks- complete
Vertebrates
• Mammals- complete
• Reptiles- complete
• Amphibians-complete
• Aves- complete
Digestion in Animals
Intracellular digestion (within the cell)
- Taking in the food particles by means of :
- DIFFUSION
- ACTIVE TRANSPORT
- ENDOCYTOSIS
- Break them down with enzymes to obtain the nutrients.
EXTRACELLULAR DIGESTION
- The enzymatic breakdown of larger pieces of food into constituent molecules.
- Occurs in special organs or cavity
- Nutrients from the food the pass into the body cells lining the organ or cavity and can take part in
energy metabolism or biosynthesis
Continuous versus Discontinuous Feeders
Continuous Feeders- are slow moving or completely sessile animals. Ex. Barnacles
Discontinuous Feeders- tend to be active, sometimes highly mobile animals.
- They take large amounts of food that must be either ground up or stored, or both.
Teeth
• Birds
• Turtles
• Baleen whales
• Snakes- their teeth are sloped backward to aid in the retention of their prey
• Wolves- their canine teeth are specialized for ripping food.
• Deer- have predominantly grinding teeth
• Beaver- chiseling trees and branches
• Elephant- front teeth, specialized for moving objects.
• Mammals- omnivores, they have teeth that can tear, rip, chisel and grind.
Salivary Glands
Fishes- lack salivary glands in the head region.
Mammals- have salivary glands
Amphibians- absent
Reptiles-absent
Birds- lack salivary glands
Esophagus
Fishes- are short
Amphibians- short
Amniotes- long, because of their necks.
Grain and seed eating birds- Develop a Crop, caudal portion of the esophagus.
Stomach
- Ancestral vertebrate structure that evolved as vertebrates began to feed on larger organisms.
Gizzard
• Fishes- present
• Reptiles- present
• Birds- present
- Develops at the posterior part of the stomach called Ventriculus.
- Pebbles( grit)- that have been swallowed are often retained in the gizzard of grain eating birds
and facilitate the grinding process.
Pancreas
- Every vertebrate has a pancreas.
- Lampreys and Lungfishes- is embedded in the wall of the intestine and is not a visible organ
Intestines
- The configuration and divisions of vertebrates vary:
Important Movements that promote digestion:
• Peristalsis- waves of involuntary muscles that push the food through the esophagus to the
stomach.
• Segmentation- simultaneous muscular contraction of many sections of the intestines
- Help mix nutrients with digestive secretions.