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THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM OF
VERTEBRATES
MAMMALS: Gorilla
Gorilla (photo by Dr. Ed Stevens)
Table 6.4. Mean digesta retention time for herbivorous colon fermenters (CD Table 7.4)
Although digesta retention times are affected by differences in the diet, and in the body temperatures of the reptiles, marsupial, and eutherian mammals, colon fermenters retain particulate digesta as long or longer than fluid digesta. The effects of colonic retention of particles can be muted in animals with a relatively large cecum such as the chimpanzee, orangutan and gorilla. (modified from Stevens and Hume 1995)