Digestive System

COMPARISON OF THE
DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS OF
CHORDATES
GROUP 3
Digestive System

The digestive system is a group

of organs working together to
convert food into energy and
basic nutrients to feed the entire
body.
Digestive System Physiology

The digestive system is

responsible for taking whole
foods and turning them into
energy and nutrients to allow the
body to function, grow, and
repair itself.
Digestive System Physiology
The six primary processes of the digestive system
include:

 Ingestion of food - intake of food

 Secretion of fluids and digestive enzymes - Saliva,
mucus, hydrochloric acid, enzymes, and bile.
 Mixing and movement of food and wastes through
the body – Swallowing, Peristalsis, Segmentation
 Digestion of food into smaller pieces
 Absorption of nutrients
 Excretion of wastes – process known as defecation
Types of Digestive Systems

Different species of animals are better

able to digest certain types of feeds than
others. This difference occurs because of
the various types of digestive systems
found in animals. There are four basic
types of digestive systems: monogastric,
avian, ruminant, and pseudo-ruminant.
Types of Digestive Systems
 Monogastric Digestive System
 A monogastric digestive system has one simple
stomach.
Types of Digestive Systems
 Avian Digestive System
 The avian digestive system is found in poultry.
Types of Digestive Systems
 Ruminant Digestive System
 The ruminant digestive system has a large
stomach divided into four compartments—the
rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the
abomasum.
 Ruminants are different from monogastric animals
in that they swallow their food in large
quantities with little chewing.
 A cud is a ball-like mass of feed brought up from
the stomach to be rechewed.
 Types of Digestive Systems

The ruminant digestive system is found in cattle, sheep, goats, and deer.
Types of Digestive Systems
 Pseudo-ruminant Digestive System
 A pseudo-ruminant is an animal that eats large
amounts of roughage but does not have a
stomach with several compartments.
Mammalian Digestive System

Mouth
Physical and chemical
digestion food begin in the
 mouth.
- Teeth
- Tongue
- Salivary glands
Pharynx
The pharynx is
responsible for the
passing of masses of
chewed food from
the mouth to the
esophagus.
Esophagus
It carries swallowed
masses of chewed
food along its length.
Stomach
This major organ acts
as a storage tank for food
so that the body has time
to digest large meals
properly.
Small Intestine
These folds are
used to maximize
the digestion of
food and absorption
of nutrients.
Liver
The main function
of the liver in
digestion is the
production of bile
and its secretion
into the small
intestine.
Gallbladder
The gallbladder
is used to store and
recycle excess bile
from the small
intestine so that it can
be reused for the
digestion of
subsequent meals.
Pancreas
The pancreas secretes
digestive enzymes into
the small intestine to
complete the chemical
digestion of foods.
Large Intestine
The large intestine
absorbs water and
contains many
symbiotic bacteria that
aid in the breaking
down of wastes to
extract some small
amounts of nutrients.
Class Mammalia
 Mammals have anus.

Ex. Homo sapiens, dog,

cat, rabbit, dolphin, etc
Class Aves
Special features:
 Crop
 Swallowed feed and water are stored in
the crop until they are passed to the rest
of the digestive tract.
 temporary storage pouch; mother birds
regurgitate food stored in the crop to
their babies
Class Aves
 Cloaca
 It is a common chamber and outlet into which
intestinal, urinary and genital tracts open.

 2 stomachs:
 Proventriculus (true stomach)
 Ventriculus or Gizzard (mechanical stomach)

Ex. Chicken (Bird)

`
Class Reptilia
Special Feature:
 Cecum - a small appendage between the
small and large intestines
 Cloaca

-In reptiles the digestion is much slower than in

mammals as they have a lower metabolism due
to the fact that they are ectotherms.
- The digestive system of reptiles and mammals
are similar
Ex. Turtle, Snake,
Lizard, Crocodile
Class Amphibia
Special Features:
 Cloaca

Ex. Frogs, Toads and Salamanders

Class Osteichthyes
Special Features:
 Pyloric caeca
 organ with fingerlike projections
 secrete enzymes that aid in digestion, may
function to absorb digested food, or do both.
 Vent
 the external opening to digestive urinary and
reproductive tracts.

Ex. Bony fishes

Class Chondrichthyes

Special Features:
 Spiral valve - is internally twisted or coiled to
increase the surface area of the intestine, to
increase nutrient absorption.
 Cloaca

Ex. Sharks, Skates and Rays

Class Cephalaspidomorphi

Special Features:
 There is no discrete pancreas in lamprey

the endocrine and enzyme-secreting functions of

the pancreas are carried out by diffuse patches of
cells on the lamprey intestine and liver.
 Since lampreys eat fluids, they do not need or

have a stomach.
 Anus

Ex. Lamprey