Difference Between a Human Digestive System and a Rat Digestive System

Human Digestive System vs Rat Digestive System

All of us need food to survive. Food is a basic necessity that all living things have to take in regularly, in order to have the adequate amount of energy and nutrients to continue on living. Our food undergoes a unique process until it becomes nutrients and energy for use. This is done by the digestive system.

The digestive system is like a long, elongated tube. This is how the process of digestion takes place. The food goes into the mouth, chewed, and then swallowed to be softened more in the stomach, in preparation for digestion and absorption. In the stomach, the chewed food comes in contact with gastric juices that contain certain enzymes that act on different types of food. Keep in mind though that about 10% digestion occurs in the stomach. Afterwards, the food goes into the small intestines where most of the digestion occur.

The first part of the small intestines has openings or ducts from different secretory organs, such as the gall bladder and the pancreas. These organs produce other enzymes and fluids that help dissolve the other components of food, for example, bile is released from the liver to the gall bladder for storage. When fat is taken in, the bile is released into the small intestines to help dissolve the fat into small parts. After most of the water is absorbed, the remaining is turned into waste and goes into the large intestines for further water absorption, until such time that it is released outside.

Human beings do not have any specialized compartments in the digestive system because we are considered as omnivores, which means we can eat both meat and vegetable or fruit plants. This means that all the support organs in our body have a special function to perform for our body.

Now that you got the major points about the human digestion, you have to know that humans have major differences in the structure of the digestive system with other animals, for example, a rat.

A rat digestive system has 2 major differences with that of a human. First, rats do not have a gallbladder. This is because they rarely take in large amount of fatty foods, thereby, making a gallbladder useless. Furthermore, rats have an enlarged large intestine, namely, the cecum. This helps them ferment the grains and seeds they take in, through the help of the bacteria inside thus, breaking down cellulose into nutrients.

You can read more about this topic since this article only provides basic information.

Summary:

1. The digestive system is a vital component for energy production and extraction of nutrients in the food we eat.

2. A human’s digestive system is likened to one elongated tube, with different parts that have vital roles to play in digesting or absorbing food.

3. A rat’s digestive system differs from that of a human digestive system in two ways: it does not have a gallbladder and it has an enlarged cecum or large intestine.

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