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THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM OF VERTEBRATES

BIRDS: Hoatzin

Hoatzin (photo by Dr Fabian Michelangeli)    (from CD Chapter 2)



Figure 5.6.  Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) digestive tract (Stevens & Hume 1995)   (from CD Chapter 5)


Table 7.6.  Mean retention time for herbivorous forestomach fermenters  (from CD Chapter 7)

Although digesta retention times are affected by differences in the diet, and in the body temperatures of the bird, sloth and other eutherian mammals, foregut fermenters retain particulate digesta as long or longer than fluid digesta. Most small forestomach fermenters retain fluid and particles for equal lengths of time, but particles are selectively retained by the forestomach of large species and this tends  to increase with an increase in dietary fiber. (modified from Stevens and Hume 1995)


Table 9.2.   (from CD Chapter 9)



Table 9.5.  Short-chain fatty acids in the foregut of herbivorous birds and mammals   (from CD Chapter 9)

Dashes indicate absence of information. Contributions of SCFA to maintenance energy were estimated from the rate of SCFA production by in vitro isotope dilution or measurements of digesta flow. Total maintenance energy was either calculated as twice  the BMR or assumed to be equivalent to ad libitum digestible energy intake in captive, nonreproducing, adult animals. (From Stevens and Hume 1995)