antipodi
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| Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:05 am EarthWorms an anatomical Journey |
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EarthWorms an anatomical Journey
One of the most important animals in the world is the common earthworm ...enviornmentally the are one of the best recyclers and a healthy garden see many of the wonderful creatures...
There are 4,400 species of worms - 2,700 different kinds of earthworms to be exact.
Anatomy...
Earthworms have mouths, they can even open them wide to fit leaves and other good things. But they don't have teeth! Here is what happend to food through digestion
Pharynx: Earthworms push their pharynx or throat out of their mouth to grab leaves and to pull them back .
Esophagus: Using saliva to get their their food good and wet, they push it down their esophagus, into the crop.
Crop: The crop is a storage compartment for food and other things they swallow. From the crop, lunch goes to their gizzard.
Gizzard: The gizzard is where the work happens. Using any stones swallowed and the strong muscles of the gizzard to grind up the leaves. These muscles work almost like teeth.
Intestine: Once the leaves all ground up they move to the intestine where the digestive juices break them down even more.
Bloodstream: Now that the leaf is all digested, some of it will pass into the bloodstream.
Anus: Whatever is leftover comes out the anus as castings or worm poop. |
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