Chapter 41

Animal Nutrition

PowerPoint Lectures for

Biology, Seventh Edition
Neil Campbell and Jane Reece

Overview: The Need to Feed

Every mealtime is a reminder that humans are
heterotrophs, that we are dependent on a
regular supply of food
In general, animals fall into one of three dietary
categories
Herbivores eat mainly autotrophs (plants and
algae)
Carnivores eat other animals
Omnivores regularly consume animals as well
as plants or algal matter
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Animal Feeding Strategies

Animals feed by four main mechanisms
Suspension feeders sift small food particles
or organisms from the water
Substrate feeders feed as they tunnel through
their food
Fluid feeders suck nutrients from a living host
Bulk feeders (most animals) eat relatively
large pieces of food

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Animal Feeding Strategies

SUSPENSION FEEDERS

SUBSTRATE FEEDERS

Feces

Baleen

Caterpillar

FLUID FEEDERS

BULK FEEDERS

Figure 41.2
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What Animals do with the Energy from Food

Nearly all of an animals
ATP generation
Is based on the oxidation
of energy-rich molecules:
carbohydrates, proteins,
and fats

Animals store excess

calories as glycogen in the
liver and muscles and as fat
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Food Processing
The main stages of food processing are
ingestion, digestion, absorption, and elimination
Ingestion, the act of eating
Is the first stage of food processing

Digestion, the second stage of food

processing
Is the process of breaking food down into
molecules small enough to absorb

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Food Processing
Absorption, the third stage of food processing
Is the uptake of nutrients by body cells

Elimination, the fourth stage of food

processing
Occurs as undigested material passes out of
the digestive compartment

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Food Processing
The four stages of food processing
Small
molecules
Pieces
of food

Mechanical
digestion

Chemical digestion
(enzymatic hydrolysis)

Nutrient
molecules
enter body
cells

Undigested
material

Food

1 INGESTION

2 DIGESTION

3 ABSORPTION

Figure 41.12
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ELIMINATION

Extracellular Digestion
Animals with simple body plans
Have a gastrovascular cavity that functions in
both digestion and distribution of nutrients
Tentacles
Mouth
Food

Gastrovascular
cavity
Epidermis
Mesenchyme
Gastrodermis
Nutritive
muscular
cells
Flagella
Gland cells
Food vacuoles

Figure 41.13

Mesenchyme

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Extracellular Digestion
Animals with a more complex body plan
Have a digestive tube with two openings, a
mouth and an anus

This digestive tube

Is called a complete digestive tract or an
alimentary canal
Mouth

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Anus

Extracellular Digestion
The digestive tube can be organized into
specialized regions
That carry out digestion and nutrient
absorption in a stepwise fashion
(a)

(b)

Earthworm. The digestive tract of

an earthworm includes a muscular
pharynx that sucks food in through the
mouth. Food passes through the
esophagus and is stored and moistened
in the crop. The muscular gizzard, which
contains small bits of sand and gravel,
pulverizes the food. Digestion and
absorption occur in the intestine,
which has a dorsal fold, the typhlosole,
that increases the surface area for
nutrient absorption.
Grasshopper. A grasshopper has several
digestive chambers grouped into three
main regions: a foregut, with an esophagus
and crop; a midgut; and a hindgut. Food is
moistened and stored in the crop, but most
digestion occurs in the midgut. Gastric ceca,
pouches extending from the midgut,
absorb nutrients.

Esophagus Crop

Gizzard

Intestine

Pharynx
Anus
Mouth

Typhlosole
Lumen of intestine
Foregut

Midgut

Hindgut

Esophagus

Rectum
Anus

Mouth
Crop

Gastric ceca

Esophagus
(c)

Figure 41.14ac

Bird. Many birds have three separate chambers

the crop, stomach, and gizzardwhere food is
pulverized and churned before passing into the
intestine. A birds crop and gizzard function very
much like those of an earthworm. In most birds,
chemical digestion and absorption of nutrients
occur in the intestine.

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Gizzard
Mouth

Intestine
Crop
Stomach

Anus

The Mammalian Digestive System

The mammalian digestive system consists of the
alimentary canal and various accessory glands
that secrete digestive juices through ducts

Salivary
glands

Oral cavity

Parotid gland
Sublingual gland

Mouth

Pharynx

Submandibular gland

Salivary
glands

Cardiac
orifice

Tongue

Esophagus

Esophagus
Pyloric
sphincter
Liver

Ascending
portion of
large intestine

Stomach

Gallbladder
Liver

Pancreas
Small intestine

Figure 41.15

Large intestine
Rectum
Appendix

Stomach

Small
intestines

Pancreas

IIeum
of small
intestine

Cecum

Gallbladder

Anus

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Duodenum of
small intestine

Large
intestines
Rectum
Anus
A schematic diagram of
the human digestive system

The Oral Cavity, Pharynx, and Esophagus

Food is pushed along the digestive tract by
peristalsis
Rhythmic waves of contraction of smooth
muscles in the wall of the canal

In the oral cavity, food is lubricated and

digestion begins
As teeth chew food into smaller particles that
are exposed to salivary amylase, initiating the
breakdown of carbohydrates

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The Oral Cavity, Pharynx, and Esophagus

From mouth to stomach
Bolus of food
Tongue

Epiglottis
up
Glottis
down
and open

Epiglottis
up

Pharynx

Esophageal
Epiglottis
sphincter
down
contracted

Glottis
Larynx
Trachea

Esophagus
To lungs

Figure 41.16

4 The esophageal
sphincter relaxes,
allowing the
bolus to enter the
esophagus.

To stomach

1 When a person is not

swallowing, the esophageal
sphincter muscle is contracted,
the epiglottis is up, and the
glottis is open, allowing air
to flow through the trachea
to the lungs.

Glottis up
and closed

2 The swallowing
reflex is triggered
when a bolus of
food reaches the
pharynx.

Esophageal
sphincter
relaxed 5 After the food

Esophageal
sphincter
contracted

has entered the

esophagus, the
larynx moves
downward and
opens the
breathing
passage.

Relaxed
muscles
Contracted
muscles

3 The larynx, the

upper part of the
6 Waves of muscular
respiratory tract,
contraction
moves upward and
(peristalsis)
tips the epiglottis
move the bolus
over the glottis,
down the esophagus
preventing food
to the stomach.
from entering the
trachea.

Relaxed
muscles

Stomach
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The Stomach
The lining of the stomach
Is coated with mucus, which prevents the
gastric juice from destroying the cells
Esophagus
Cardiac orifice

5 m

Stomach

Interior surface of stomach.

The interior surface of the
stomach wall is highly folded
and dotted with pits leading
into tubular gastric glands.
Gastric gland. The gastric
glands have three types of cells
that secrete different components
of the gastric juice: mucus cells,
chief cells, and parietal cells.

Pyloric
sphincter
Small
intestine

Folds of
epithelial
tissue

Epithelium

Pepsinogen

2
HCl

Pepsin (active enzyme)

1
2 HCl converts
pepsinogen to pepsin.

Mucus cells secrete mucus,

which lubricates and protects
the cells lining the stomach.
Chief cells secrete pepsinogen, an inactive form of the
digestive enzyme pepsin.

Figure 41.17

Parietal cells secrete

hydrochloric acid (HCl).

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1 Pepsinogen and HCI

are secreted into the
lumen of the stomach.

Chief cell

Parietal cell

3 Pepsin then activates

more pepsinogen,
starting a chain
reaction. Pepsin
begins the chemical
digestion of proteins.

Enzymatic Action in the Small Intestine

The first portion of the small intestine is the
duodenum
Where acid chyme from the stomach mixes
with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver,
gallbladder, and intestine itself
Liver

Bile

Gallbladder

Stomach

Intestinal
juice

Acid chyme

Pancreatic juice
Pancreas

Figure 41.19

Duodenum of
small intestine

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The Small Intestine

The small intestine has a huge surface area due to the
presence of villi and microvilli that greatly increase the
rate of nutrient absorption; an increase in the length of the
small intestine or the presence of a spiral valve (sharks)
also increases surface area for absorption.

Microvilli
(brush border)

Vein carrying blood to

hepatic portal vessel

Figure 41.23

Blood
capillaries
Epithelial
cells
Muscle layers
Villi

Epithelial cells

Large
circular
folds

Lacteal

Key
Nutrient
absorption

Intestinal wall

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Villi

Lymph
vessel

The Large Intestine

A major function of the
large intestine or colon

Is to recover water that has

entered the alimentary
canal

The wastes of the digestive

tract, the feces

Become more solid as they

move through the colon

Pass through the rectum

and exit via the anus

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Some Dental Adaptations of Mammals

Mammals have specialized dentition
That best enables them to ingest their usual
diet
Incisors

Canines
(a) Carnivore

(b) Herbivore

Figure 41.26ac

(c) Omnivore

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Molars
Premolars

Mammalian Teeth Specializations

Molars of elephants are 12 inches long and 4 inches wide!

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Human Adult Dentition

Humans have 32 adult teeth

I incisor
P premolar
M - molar

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Stomach and Intestinal Adaptations

Herbivores generally have longer alimentary
canals than carnivores
Reflecting the longer time needed to digest
vegetation

Small intestine
Small
intestine

Stomach

Cecum

Colon
(large
intestine)

Figure 41.27

Carnivore

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Herbivore

Stomach and Intestinal Adaptations

The most elaborate adaptations for an
herbivorous diet
Have evolved in the animals called ruminants
1 Rumen. When the cow first chews and
swallows a mouthful of grass, boluses
(green arrows) enter the rumen.
2 Reticulum. Some boluses
also enter the reticulum. In
both the rumen and the
reticulum, symbiotic prokaryotes
and protists (mainly ciliates) go
to work on the cellulose-rich
meal. As by-products of their
metabolism, the microorganisms
secrete fatty acids. The cow
periodically regurgitates and
rechews the cud (red arrows),
which further breaks down the
fibers, making them more
accessible to further microbial action.

Intestine

Esophagus

Figure 41.28
4 Abomasum. The cud, containing great numbers of microorganisms,
finally passes to the abomasum for digestion by the cows own
enzymes (black arrows).

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3 Omasum. The cow then reswallows

the cud (blue arrows), which moves to
the omasum, where water is removed.

Stomach and Intestinal Adaptations

Schools of
Veterinary
Medicine
surgically
implant
portholes or
fistulas into the
rumen chamber
of cow stomachs
for teaching and
research
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