There are millions of animals in the world today and regardless of whether they are on land or in water, eating is one of the most important things for them all. Many animals have unique digestive systems that suit their eating habits and environment, and many have multiple stomachs, each with a different essential role. Here, we'll explore some animals with multiple stomachs and how they work.
Baird's Pointed Whale
Topping the list of animals with the most stomachs is the Baird beaked whale, which can have more than 10 stomachs. The whale has two large stomach cavities, its main stomach and a pyloric stomach. In addition, beaked whales have a series of chambers connecting the stomachs. The study found that the average number of connected chambers in beaked whales was 8.24. However, different animals have different numbers of connecting cavities, with the researchers finding anywhere from 3 to 11 connecting cavities in the stomach in different whale species. Meaning, when including its two main stomachs, some Baird beaked whales have up to 13 stomachs!
The spearhead whale is flexible, agile, and an intelligent carnivore. Some eat fish, some hunt marine mammals such as sea lions, seals, whales and even great white sharks are also victims of it. It is the apex predator in the ocean and has no worthy natural enemies but humans. There can be up to 5 different types of whale dolphins, some of which can be separated into breeds, sub-species or even separate species. The tip whale is a highly organized social species, some matriarchal, more stable than any other mammal, except humans, of course. The complex social behavior, hunting techniques, and communication sounds of whales are considered part of their culture.
Adult spearhead whales are very distinct and cannot be confused with any other marine life. When viewed from a distance, the juveniles can be mistaken for a species of whale, such as the bellfish or the Risso dolphin. Pointed whale teeth are very strong and covered with enamel, their jaws are powerful clamping machines, the upper teeth fill the space between the lower teeth when the mouth is closed. The incisors tend to tilt slightly forward and outward, thus allowing it to withstand strong jerks from the prey while the middle and molars hold the prey firmly in place.
Reindeer
Reindeer are herbivorous mammals native to Alaska, Canada, Greenland, northern Europe and northern Asia. They are characterized by their gray-brown plumage and antlers. In many regions, reindeer are used as a source of food, milk and transportation for humans. However, brown bears, polar bears and wolves often hunt reindeer. Combined with over-hunting, reindeer populations are endangered and they are classified as vulnerable.
Reindeer, like all other members of the deer family, are ruminants. Ruminants have four stomachs and "chew the female". This means they first chew the food enough to swallow so it can be stored in the stomach first (the rumen). It is then broken down further in the second stomach (retinal) before they burp food from this stomach back into the mouth for further chewing.
This is usually done while they are resting and is known as cud chewing. After being swallowed again, the food enters the third stomach (omasum), where water is absorbed. Finally, it is sent to the abomasum to further break down before it reaches the intestines, where the nutrients are absorbed into the body.
Hunting and raising wild and farmed reindeer (for meat, hides, milk, antlers and for transportation) is important to people in the Arctic and some subarctic people. Even now outside of its territory, reindeer are well known due to the popular American myth, possibly originating in the early 19th century, in which Santa's sleigh was pulled by reindeer. flying, a common secular element of Christmas celebrations.
Sloth
Sloths are arboreal mammals native to Central and South America, where they can be found in tropical rainforests, often hanging upside down. These adorable creatures have thick, brown fur and are best known for being exceptionally slow – they move through trees at a rate of just 40 yards a day. Amazingly, despite being nearly powerless on the ground, sloths can actually swim quite fast.
However, it is not only their speed that is slow, as sloths have the lowest metabolic rate of any animal. This means they take an incredibly long time to digest anything. Leaves are their main food source and do not provide much energy or nutrients. They are also not easy to digest, which is why sloths have 4 stomachs to completely break them down. This whole process takes about 1 month to complete.
The diet of sloths is very poor in terms of nutrition, along with slow movement in search of food, so they need a large stomach and many chambers to accommodate. foods. Sloths can take months to digest a meal, and it needs a sedentary lifestyle to keep energy catabolism as low as possible, which often lowers the sloth's body temperature. down very low. When their body temperature drops too low, their gut bacteria will stop working, meaning that even though they have eaten enough for a whole month, sloths can still die of hunger, because the food in their digestive tracts they are not digested.
They spend most of their lives just eating, sleeping and resting on the canopy of the rainforest. Most herbivores often supplement with more energy-rich foods such as fruits and nuts. But sloths, especially three-toed sloths, depend almost entirely on leaves. They have developed a sophisticated strategy để thích ứng với chế độ ăn eo hẹp này.
Giraffe
The giraffe is the tallest living animal in the world today and also the largest ruminant. These majestic animals are native to Africa and have 9 subspecies. Giraffes are easily recognized by their long necks and distinctive white and tan plumage with their unique pattern. They can reach a staggering 20 feet tall, giving them the ability to reach the leaves at the tops of trees that other animals cannot.
Giraffes live in savannas and open forests where they prefer to eat acacia trees. They have four stomach cavities, and the first has adapted to a diet consisting mainly of acacia. Giraffes spend most of their day eating and consuming about 75 pounds of leaves per day. As ruminants, they frequently burp up semi-digestible food to be re-chewed, often over several hours.
A giraffe eats about 34 kg of leaves per day. When stressed, giraffes can chew on tree bark. Despite being herbivores, giraffes are known to visit carcasses and lick dried meat off bones. During the wet season, food is abundant and giraffes spread out more, while in the dry season they congregate around the remaining evergreen trees and bushes. Mothers tend to feed in open spaces, presumably to make predators easier to spot, although this may reduce their feeding efficiency. As ruminants, giraffes first chew their food, then swallow it for processing and then pass it through the clearly digested neck up the neck and back to the mouth to chew again, to secrete water. foam during feeding. The giraffe needs less food than many other herbivores because the foliage it eats has more concentrated nutrients and it has a more efficient digestive system. Animal droppings come in the form of small pellets. When given access to water, giraffes drink no more than three days apart.
Giraffes have a huge effect on the trees they eat, delaying the growth of young trees for a number of years and giving "waistlines" to trees that are too tall. They eat most in the first and last hours of the day. Between these hours, giraffes mostly stand and chew. Rumination is the predominant activity at night, when lying down is predominant.
Hippo
Hippos are large semi-aquatic mammals native to Africa and the third largest terrestrial mammal in the world. They have a distinctive appearance with a rounded body, short legs and a large head with impressive fangs. Hippos live around lakes, rivers and swamps and spend a lot of time in mud and water to stay cool. They are excellent swimmers and amazingly they sometimes give birth in the water.
Hippos are mainly herbivores, although they also destroy crops. They have a particularly unique digestive system as they are known as "false ruminants". This pseudo-ruminant has 3 stomachs, but still has the same benefits as the stomach of a four-chambered ruminant. This means their stomachs break down their food in compartments without them having to chew it as thoroughly as ruminants.
Hippos are semi-aquatic, semi-terrestrial, inhabiting the rivers, lakes and mangrove swamps of West Africa where males dominate a section of river and lead herds of 5 to 30 females and calves. young. During the day, they maintain their cool by soaking in water or mud; and spawning also takes place in water. They come ashore at night to eat grass. Although hippos rest close together in the water, foraging is a solitary and non-territorial activity.
Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial ungulates, they are most closely related to whales and dolphins, which split off about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos diverged from other even-toed ungulates about 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippo fossils belong to the African genus Kenyapotamus, dating to about 16 million years ago.
Ostrich
Ostriches are large, flightless birds native to Africa. They are also the fastest birds on land and are capable of reaching speeds of 43 mph. There are two species of ostrich – the common ostrich and the Somali ostrich – and both can reach about 9 feet tall. Ostriches have small heads, long necks and long legs. Males are black, while females are gray and brown, both with white wings and tails. Ostriches typically live in savanna and desert regions and feed on a mixture of seeds, grasses, shrubs, insects, and small lizards.
Ostriches have three stomachs and are particularly unusual because they have extremely long intestines. They don't have teeth, so they eat small stones to crush food. Therefore, they need 3 stomachs so they can break down all the different things they eat. The ventricles are the stomach, where they store stones and gravel to crush food. Some ostriches even carry 2-pound blocks of rock in them.
Ostriches are omnivores, which means they consume a wide variety of plants and animals. Ostriches are very versatile eaters and wild ostriches and those kept as pets can have different diets. While wild ostriches eat a wide variety of plants, bugs and small animals, farm-raised ostriches are often fed a balanced diet with commercially available forages that mimic what they eat. in nature.
Ostriches are part of a classification known as the gastropod family, which literally translates as "stomach stones". Ostriches, like many other birds, do not have teeth, making digestion difficult. They swallow stones, stones, and other “scratches” or “grits” and they hold them in a muscular part of the stomach called the gizzard. They don't digest rocks; instead, they use them to help break down the different foods they consume to make them easier to digest. Over time, rocks will wear down until they are completely eroded. When this happens, birds will replace them with more rocks to keep their digestion on track.
Ostriches have a predominantly plant-based diet. In the wild, an ostrich's diet consists of about 60% plant materials, 15% fruit or legumes, 5% insects or small animals, and 20% grains, salt, and rocks.
Camel
Camels are particularly noted for their hump on their backs and their ability to survive the harsh desert conditions of Africa and the Middle East. There are 3 species alive today – dromedary (one-humped), Bactrian (two-humped) and Wild Bactrian (also two-humped). Camels have been domesticated for many years and are an important mode of transport in the deserts.
Camels have adapted to hot environments in many ways, including surviving without water for days. They do this by storing fatty tissue in the tumor so that it can be converted to water. Camels have 3 stomachs. These cavities allow them to absorb as many nutrients as possible from the scarce and poor quality food they eat.
Camels withstand the rigors of the desert because they have mane coats to protect them from the heat and cold during the sun or at night in the desert. Their feet have large claws that help them to walk on rough roads or on soft sand. More importantly, they know how to stay hydrated. Camels do not sweat and also lose very little water in the process of excreting. Even nasal fluid is retained through a slit down the mouth. Camels can walk for a long time in the desert, then its weight will be reduced by about 40%. But mainly it can survive in the desert for long because of the hump.
Camels are best known for their humps. These bumps do not contain water as most people believe. These tumors are reservoirs of fatty tissue, while water is stored in their blood. This allows them to live for days without food and water. Camel fat is used when food is scarce. The tumor will then shrink and soften. When water is available, it can immediately drink a steam to make up for the lost liquid. Unlike other mammals, their red blood cells are oval rather than round. This facilitates the flow of red blood cells during dehydration. and makes them better at resisting high osmotic vibrations without breaking down when drinking large amounts of water: a 600 kg (1,300 lb) camel can drink 200 L (53 US gal). ) water for 3 minutes.
Dolphin
Dolphins are highly intelligent aquatic mammals found all over the world. There are 40 species of dolphins and they are found in every ocean, some even live in freshwater rivers. They range in size from about 6 feet long to 31 feet long killer whales, actually a member of the dolphin family. Dolphins can dive about 1,000 feet deep, and they eat a variety of fish, squid, and crustaceans.
Most dolphins have 3 stomachs, but some have only two. Since dolphins don't chew their food, the first stomach takes care of breaking down the food into smaller pieces, while the rest of the digestion takes place in the second and third stomachs. .
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales. There are nearly 40 species of dolphins belonging to 17 genera living in the oceans, a few remaining live in some rivers in the world (Yangtze River, Amazon River, Indus River, Ganges River,...). Dolphins can range in size from 1.2 m (4 ft) and 40 kg (90 lb) (Maui's Dolphin), up to 9.5 m (30 ft) and 10 tonnes (9.8 long tons; 11 lb). US tons) (Great Black Dolphin or Killer Whale).
Dolphins are found worldwide and usually inhabit the shallow seas of the continental shelf. Dolphins are carnivores, eating mainly fish and squid. The Delphinidae are the largest family of dolphins and also the last to appear: about 10 million years ago, during the Middle Age. Dolphins are among the most intelligent animals and are well known in human culture for their friendly appearance and playful and exuberant attitude towards humans.
Kangaroo
Kangaroo is the largest species in the family Macropodidae. They are marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea and they have two stomach chambers. Kangaroos are herbivores and graze mainly on grass and sometimes shrubs. Although they regurgitate food and chew it, they don't regurgitate their food as often as ruminants because that would be more difficult for them. Kangaroos are easily recognized by their distinctive jumping gait, thanks to their powerful hind legs and long tail. Incredibly, the largest kangaroos can reach a height of 8 feet and a top speed of 43 mph.
Kangaroos have strong hind legs, a long, strong tail and smaller front legs. They belong to the genus Macropus, which translates to "big-footed". Thanks to these huge feet, kangaroos can jump to a distance of 9 meters with just one kick and move at a speed of 48km / h. The tail of this species helps to balance the body when jumping. They are also the tallest of the marsupials at more than 2 meters tall.
Because they are herbivores, kangaroos have developed a separate set of jaws. Its incisors can chew grass near the ground, while its molars are responsible for cutting and grinding grass into pieces. The chemical called "silicon dioxide" in the grass is abrasive, so after a while, the kangaroo's teeth will gradually fall out and be replaced by new teeth. This process of tooth replacement is called "polyphyodonty" and occurs only in mammals such as manatees and manatees.
Kangaroos mainly grow in eastern Australia. This species lives in herds of about 50 individuals or more. If threatened, kangaroos will stomp their feet on the ground to warn the opponent. They fight their enemies by kicking and sometimes even biting their opponents.
Crocodile
Crocodiles are large carnivorous reptiles native to the United States, Mexico and China, found in freshwater lakes, rivers and swamps. They are usually black or greenish brown with a white underside. They have great strength in their mouths that allows them to crush prey such as turtles and small mammals. Crocodiles have 2 stomachs used to digest prey. The first part contains ice to crush the meal, while the second is extremely acidic to break down the rest of the food so they can be digested.
Crocodiles are very agile for short distances, even out in the water. They have powerful jaws and sharp teeth for tearing flesh, but they cannot open their mouth if it is tightly closed, so there are several stories of people surviving long-snouted Nile crocodiles by their jaws closed. All large crocodiles also have sharp and strong claws. Crocodiles are ambush hunters, they wait for fish or land animals to approach, then attack quickly.
After using its powerful bite, the crocodile dragged the victim into the river to drown until suffocation. Then, to tear the bait, it grabbed the piece of meat and then rotated many times to remove the meat. At first, you may think this is difficult because there is no support, but the crocodiles don't have to worry about that: as soon as they can smell the blood, five or six crocodiles swim to express their opinion. want to share a meal, and often prey is torn into hundreds of pieces by powerful jaws and violent turns.
As cold-blooded carnivores, they can go days without food, and rarely find them necessary to actively hunt. Despite their slow appearance, crocodiles are excellent predators in their environment, and some crocodiles have been seen to attack and kill lions, large ungulates and even lions. even sharks. In the Sundarbans National Park in India, a 4.5m crocodile in the wild mangrove swamps of western Bangal had a historic attack becoming the first crocodile to destroy a wild tiger here. , the tiger was attacked while it was trying to swim across the river and was killed in a fierce battle afterwards, the crocodile gained the advantage when fighting in the water.
Above are the top animals with the most stomachs on the planet today that Toplist learns and provides to readers. Follow along to know more interesting things about the animal world in the following articles.
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