The African Elephant's Food Web
As seen in the diagram above, the plants absorb the sunlight to grow, the plant is then eaten by the elephant and by humans. The African Elephant is then hunted by the tiger and human. The tiger is fina
As seen in the diagram above, the plants absorb the sunlight to grow, the plant is then eaten by the elephant and by humans. The African Elephant is then hunted by the tiger and human. The tiger is fina
The African Elephant's Food Chain
As seen in the diagram above, the elephant eats the plant and then the lion eats the elephant.
The Digestive System
The Digestive System is the body system that makes food absorbable into the body and collects nutrients from foods.
The Mouth
Before the food even enters the mouth, the smell of the food triggers the salivary gland to secrete saliva. When food enters the mouth, the saliva covers the food. The enzymes in the saliva help break down the sugars in the food. When the food is swallowed, the epiglottis opens so the food does not go down the trachea.
Stomach
Despite popular knowledge, the African Elephant only has one stomach. Not much digestion takes place in the stomach as it is mainly used for storage for food so the digestive system can absorb the nutrients from the food properly. When the food enters the stomach, hyrdrochloric acid is released to make the food into chyme.
Digestion past the Stomach
Once food is turned into chyme in the stomach, the chyme travels down through the duodenum which is the first part of the small intestine. The small intestine breaks down the food by releasing bile from the liver and enzymes from the pancreas. The other parts of the small intestine are mostly responsible for absorbing the nutrients into the bloodstream. From then the food travels along the colon to the rectum for further release.
The specialised cells in the digestive system is Villi. Villi are responsible for the absorption of nutrients. There are over seventy metres of villi inside the small intestine of an African Elephant. on the outer layer of the villi, there are petrutions. On each petrution there are little petrutions on the petrutions. Then on those petrutions there are petrutions on them and etc. In villi, oxygenated blood runs up the villi and deoxygenated blood runs down it. As said before, the main function of the villi is to absorb nutrients which is directly taken to the blood stream for the body to use. Because fat is a nutrient, the villi absorb fat. Although, when to much fat is absorbed,