Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Difference Between Digestive Tract of Carnivores vs Herbivores

ORAL CAVITY
Carnivorous animals tend to have wide mouths in relation to their head size and have highly developed jaw muscles called the temporal is muscles.

Herbivores have smaller mouths and muscular tongues to move food about and grind it down on the flat platforms of molar teeth in the mouth.

DIGESTIVE TRACT
Carnivores have shorter digestive tracts as they can obtain nutrients from the meat they consume more quickly.  They have a relatively small caecum as their diet only consists of small mounts of plan material.

Herbivores have long digestive tracts because it takes a long time to absorb nutrients from the plant material which they eat.  They also have a large caecum which helps, only with enzymes, breakdown the plant material and cellulose.

TEETH
Carnivore's teeth are long, sharp, and pointed.  These are tolls that are useful for the task of piercing into FLESH.

Herbivore's teeth are not pointed, but flat edged.  These are useful tools for biting, crushing, and grinding.

SALIVA
Carnivore's saliva does not contain digestive enzymes.

Herbivore's saliva is alkaline, containing carbohydrate digestive enzymes.

STOMACH SIZE
Carnivores have greatly enlarged stomachs which encompass between 60 and 70 percent of their entire digestive tracts.  Carnivore's stomach secretes powerful digestive enzymes with about ten times the amount of hydrochloric acid than a human or herbivore.  The pH is less than or equal to "1" with food in the stomach, for a carnivore.  (E. Coli bacteria, salmonella, compylobacter, trichina worms [parasites] or other pathogens would not survive in the stomach of a lion)

Herbivores have much smaller stomachs as they generally are required to process smaller amounts of food.  For humans or herbivores, the pH ranges from 4 to 5 with food in the stomach.  Hence, man must prepare is meats with laborious cooking or frying methods.  

SMALL INTESTINE
Carnivore's or omnivore's small intestine is three to six times the length of its trunk.  This is a tool designed for rapid elimination of food that rots quickly.

Herbivore's and man's small intestines are 10 to 12 times the length of their body, and winds itself back and forth in random directions.  This is a tool designed for keeping food in it for long enough periods of time so that all the valuable nutrients and minerals can be extracted from it before it enters the large intestine.