Discuss hypotheses for why Burmese pythons deconstruct their digestive systems b

Question

Discuss hypotheses for why Burmese pythons deconstruct their digestive systems between meals. Similarly, discuss hypotheses for why small birds and mammals, having lengthened their intestines during cold seasons, permit their intestines to shorten during warm seasons. In other words, why might natural selection favor plastic, rather than static, gastrointestinal morphology? Most people tend to think that if the sun ever stopped emitting light, all animal life on Earth would soon end. Populations of hydrothermal-vent animals might continue to exist for thousands of years, however. Explain.

Explanation / Answer

Gastrointestinal plasticity enables the GI tract to change in form and function in response to fasting and feeding. Such plasticity is important for infrequent feeders (long episodes of fasting between large meals).

Burmese pythons are such infrequent feeders. Their gut muscles are not in use frequently and in atrophic condition. So their digestion process is very slow and they increase their GI tract length.

During winter season the diet of small birds and mammals includes mainly vegetables I.e fiber rich food. So they need longer intestine for the digestion. To keep the body warm the organisms take more food during winter. This also results in lengthening of intestine. During summer they take protein rich food (eg: insects) more. So they shorten their intestine.

Natural selection always favour plastic GI over static one. The adaptation according to the environmental changes is the key for natural selection. The plastic GI can change their form and function according to the feeding , starvation, or environmental changes.

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