25- Digestive System

Why do animals eat?

 Animals are heterotrophs; can’t synthesise organic compounds from inorganic molecules
 Plants are autotrophs: require only inorganic compounds absorbed from environment for
growth and use energy from the sun
 Animals must consume other organisms to obtain nutrients
 Enormous diversity of diets and ways to obtain, process and digest food

What do animals need?

 Carbohydrates (sugars, starch & fibre): main energy source, low GI (glycemic index)
 Lipids (fats and oils) energy and structural component of cells, also vitamins
 Protein: can provide energy as well as amino acids for synthesis of new proteins (enzymes,
structural components of cells)
 Essential amino acids ( 9 humans can’t synthesise)
 Essential fatty acids (only 2 in humans)
 Vitamins (organic compounds essential for metabolism)
 Minerals (inorganic elements essential for metabolism
 Water

Vitamins

 Must be obtained from food

 Varying requirements for different animals
 Needed in small amounts for normal functioning
 Many can’t be stored – must eat regularly
Fat Soluble: A, D, E, K
Water-soluble: B group, C, niacin, folic acid, etc

Rickets

 Disease: usually from lack of vitamin D

 Need sunlight to synthesis vitamin D
 Soft bones- causes deformity
 Normally only in children

Scurvy

 Lack of vitamin C
 Source: fruits and veges – especially citrus fruits
 Bleeding, skin spots, loss of teeth – fatal

Hypervitaminosis A:

 Excess vitamin A stored in liver of many carnivores: poisonous

Minerals

 Animals need mineral elements in different amounts

Essential minerals Na, Cl, K, Ca, P, Mg, S (> 100 mg/day)
Trace elements – Fe, Cu, I, F, Se (<< 100 mg/day)

Goitre

 Thyroid disorder
 Swelling of thyroid/neck
 Most common cause
-iodine deficiency
 Prevent by dietary intake of iodine
 Goitre still occurs in India, central Africa, central Asia
 And iodine deficiency on the rise in AUS

How much food does an animal need?

 Depends on animal’s metabolic rate age, reproductive state

 Metabolic rate depends on activity, body mass, environmental conditions
 Type of food and ability to digest it

Metabolic Rate

 Size plays a big role in metabolic rate

 Big animals need more energy than small ones
 BUT per unit of body mass, small animals need more energy
 Small animals:
-need more food per unit body mass
-more energy rich food

What does digestion achieve?

 Stepwise breakdown of large into small molecules

 Molecules small enough absorbed across gut wall; provide energy
 HOW?
-Mechanical digestion
-Enzymatic digestion

Process of Digestion

 Mammalian digestive (alimentary) system is a hollow muscular tube:

– buccal cavity/mouth (+ salivary glands)
– pharynx
– oesophagus
– stomach
– small intestine (+ pancreas, liver)
 – large intestine (including caecum)
– anus

Enzymes

 Different enzymes come from different locations in the digestive tract

Buccal cavity (mouth)

 Physical breakdown by mastication

-different teeth for different foods
 Mixing with saliva
-lubrication and enzymatic breakdown (amylase digests starch)

Pharynx

 Oral and nasal cavities meet

Oesophagus

 Transports food (bolus) to stomach

Stomach

Mechanical breakdown
-muscular walls churn food
Chemical Breakdown
-acidic (HCI; pH 1-2)
-enzymes
Food reduced to soup (chyme)
Pyloric sphincter allows chyme into duodenum

Small Intestine

 Muscular tub (duodenum, jejunum, ileum)

 Enzymatic digestion
 Absorption of nutrients into bloodstream (both
diffusion and active transport)
 Large SA (many villi) = faster absorption
Digestive glands release enzymes into the small intestine

 Membrane of intestinal wall (with villi) secretes enzymes

-break down mainly sugars
 Pancreatic fluid from pancreas (lots of enzymes, break down protein)
 Bile – from liver via gall bladder – emulsifies fat

Large intestine

 Removal of water
 Formation of faeces
 Elimination through anus