Digestive Systems Flashcards

Flashcards about Digestive Systems

Carnivores

Organisms that eat meat.

Herbivores

Organisms that eat plants.

Omnivores

Organisms that eat a variety of foods, including both plants and animals.

Incisor

Sharp and knifelike tooth, for tearing food.

Canine

Pointed tooth, useful for ripping lumps of meat apart – needed in carnivores.

Molars

Flatter teeth, used for grinding plant food into small pieces for digestion by enzymes – used extensively by herbivores.

Cellulase

An enzyme in the gut of some animals that breaks down cellulose.

Caecum

A pouch, located between the small and large intestines where food is stored until it can be digested.

Ruminants

Hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions.

Rumen

The first stomach of a cow, where grass is mixed with bacteria to break up cellulose.

Reticulum

The second stomach of a cow which traps any unwanted things that may have been swallowed accidently e.g. rocks, wire. It facilitates regurgitation.