Many animals initiate the digestive process with a mechanical breakdown. This ca

Question

Many animals initiate the digestive process with a mechanical breakdown. This can occur in the mourn region or further down in the digestive tract depending on the animal. Briefly explain the process and its purpose. Mammals have a variety of teeth to accommodate the task of mechanical breakdown. Briefly describe the variety of teeth and their function in mammals. Do all vertebrates use their teeth to accomplish mechanical breakdown of their food items? Use reptiles as on examples to illustrate differences between them and the mammals. What is the function of the tongue in the digestive system? How is chemical breakdown different from mechanical breakdown?

Explanation / Answer

10. Mechanical digestion implies breaking up of the food onto smaller and still smaller fragments to increase surface area for more efficient action of enzymes for chemical digestion. This function is done in the mouth in mammals with the help of teeth and tongue.

In birds however.. it begins in the gizzard. It is a muscular thick walled compartment before the proper stomach which grinds the food. It's also present in a lesser form in some insects.

11. Mammals have the following types of teerh5:

Incisors: these are flat with an even edge for biting and gripping.

Canines: present only in carnivores and omnivores for tearing flesh. They are sharp and have pointed ends

Premolars and molars: these have rounded cusped bases which grind and mash the food making it pulpy.

12. Reptiles do not have a process of mechanical breakdown. They swallow their food whole. They then go into a fasting period through which the entire ingested food undergoes digestion and absorption.

13. The tongue has the following functions.

Helps in rolling the food into a bolus for swallowing

Uses the saliva and spreads it around for Lubrication of the mouth.

Taste sensation.

14. Mechanical digestion is a physical change in the food where only it's surface area increases.

Chemical digestion involves chemical changes in the food by action of enzymes which break the complex matter into simpler substances

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