Digestion

Digestive system - the organs that take in food and liquids and break them down into substances that the body can use for energy, growth, and tissue repair

Enzymes - proteins that help speed up metabolism, or the chemical reactions in our bodies

Mastication - chewing, the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth

Saliva - thick, colourless fluid that is constantly present in the mouth of humans and other vertebrates

Salivary amylase - a major component of human saliva that initiates carbohydrate digestion in the mouth

Oesophagus - the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach

Peristalsis - a series of muscle contractions, that occurs automatically to move food through the digestive tract

Stomach - a muscular organ that digests food

Hydrochloric acid - breaks down the food and the digestive enzymes split up the proteins

Protease - enzymes that break down protein into amino acids

Lipase - enzymes that breaks down fats into fatty acids and glycerol,

Carbohydrase - enzymes that break down carbohydrates into simple sugars

Sphincter - a ring-shaped muscle that relaxes or tightens to open or close a passage or opening in the body

Pancreas - an organ that produces several hormones, including insulin

Small intestine - breaks down food from the stomach and absorbs a lot of the nutrients from the food

Liver - cleanses the blood and aids in digestion by secreting bile

Bile - a fluid stored in the gallbladder which helps digest fat

Duodenum - the first part of the small intestine, it absorbs nutrients and water from food so they can be used by the body

Villi - tiny hair-like projections that line the inside of the small intestine, they contain blood vessels and help absorb nutrients

Large intestine - absorbs water and salts from the material that has not been digested as food, and get rid of any waste products left over

Colon - the longest part of the large intestine, it removes water and electrolytes and some nutrients from partially digested food

Hindgut fermenters - monogastric, herbivore animals with an enlarged cecum/colon used for fermentation of cellulose in plant fibre

Monogastric - animals with a single chambered stomach

Cecum - connects the small intestine to the colon

Cecotropes - a type of faecal pellet which lagomorphs and rodents produce and consume

Ruminants - hoofed mammals that have four chamber stomachs

Rumen - the largest stomach in ruminants

Abomasum - the true stomach, the last stomach in ruminants

Dental pad - a hard palate of soft tissue in ruminants where the upper incisors would be