Adaptations to different diets

• what do reptiles and amphibians do when they ingest their food?

  they swallow it whole
• what do mammals do when they ingest their food?

  they retain their food in the mouth, while its cut and chewed
• how can mammals hold food in the mouth and chew while breathing?

  as they are the only vertebrates to have a palate separating the nasal and mouth cavities
• what is the length of the small intestine of a carnivore?

  • a carnivore eats only animals and so its diet is mainly protein
  • its small intestine is short in relation to its body length, reflecting the ease with which protein is digested
• what is the length of the small intestine of a herbivore?

  • a herbivore eats only plant material
  • its small intestine is long in relation to its body length, because plant material is not readily digested and a long gut allows enough time for digestion and absorption of nutrients
• what is the length of a gut of an omnivore?

  the gut of an omnivore, such as a human, is intermediate (mid-size) in length
• what is the large intestine like in carnivores?

  its straight with a smooth lining
• what is the large intestine like in herbivores and omnivores?

  • its pouched
  • it can stretch to accommodate the larger volume of of faeces produced in digesting plants, much of which is cellulose
  • the large intestine is also long, with villi, where water is absorbed
• is protein easy or hard to digest?

  easy
• is plant material (i.e. cellulose) easy or hard to digest?

  hard