Nutrition in Animals

It kills harmful bacteria that enter with food and creates an acidic medium for digestive juices

Step 1: The inner lining of the stomach produces three things: mucous, hydrochloric acid (HCl), and digestive juices. Step 2: Mucous protects the stomach lining from the strong acid. Step 3: The hydrochloric acid serves two important purposes — it kills many harmful bacteria that enter the body along with food, keeping us safe from infections. Step 4: It also makes the environment inside the stomach acidic, which helps the digestive juices (enzymes) work properly to break down proteins. Step 5: Carbohydrate digestion starts in the mouth and is completed in the small intestine — NOT in the stom

Assimilation

Step 1: Nutrition in animals involves five steps: Ingestion → Digestion → Absorption → Assimilation → Egestion. Step 2: Digestion is the breaking down of complex food into simpler substances. Step 3: Absorption is when the digested food passes from the small intestine into the blood vessels. Step 4: Assimilation is the process where the absorbed nutrients (like amino acids) are taken up by body cells and used to build complex substances needed by the body, such as proteins for muscles and tissues. Step 5: Egestion is the removal of undigested waste from the body through the anus. So absorption

Cellulose

Step 1: Grass and leafy plants are rich in cellulose, which is a type of carbohydrate that forms the cell walls of plants. Step 2: Humans do not have the special bacteria or enzymes needed to break down cellulose, so we cannot digest it. Step 3: Ruminants like cows, buffaloes, and deer have a special part of their stomach called the rumen, where bacteria live and help digest cellulose. Step 4: Animals like horses and rabbits have a large sac called the caecum where similar bacteria help digest cellulose. Step 5: Glucose and starch are easily digested by humans. Glycerol is a product of fat dig

The process where swallowed food (cud) returns to the mouth and is chewed again

Step 1: Ruminants like cows, buffaloes, goats, and deer eat grass very quickly and swallow it. Step 2: This quickly swallowed, partially digested food is stored in a special part of the stomach called the rumen — this stored food is called cud. Step 3: Later, when the animal is resting, the cud comes back up from the rumen into the mouth in small lumps. Step 4: The animal then chews this cud properly and slowly — this is called rumination (you may have seen cows 'chewing' even when they are not eating anything new). Step 5: This process helps ruminants break down the tough grass and cellulose