Digestive SystemMarsupials consists of carnivores, omnivores, foregut fermenters and hindgut fermenters. Foregut fermenters and hindgut fermenters are both herbivores but they are very different in the way they digest things.
Foregut FermentersForegut fermenters may also be referred to as ruminants. They have a different way of digesting food which is slower but allows for a greater nutrients yield without wasting a lot of energy. Foregut ferments contain pouches with microbes in their stomach. These microbes take glucose from cellulose while producing fatty acids that will be used for energy. Well known marsupial foregut fermenters would be organisms such as kangaroos and wallabies.
HIndgut FermentersHindgut fermenters use their caecum and proximal colon in their hindgut for fermentation. Within the caecum and proximal colon are microbes to help digest the food. Hindgut fermentation is a lot less efficient at digesting food when compared to foregut fermenters. Some even have to eat their feces because of this.
|
ExcretORY SYSTEmWhat is Excretion?
Excretion is the process by which waste products of metabolism and other non-useful materials are eliminated from an organism.
When an organism, like marsupials, catabolize amino acids in the body it creates nitrogenous wastes. These wastes are very toxic and need to be eliminated. Marsupials have an orifice called the cloaca from which they excrete both feces and urine. In order to eliminate the wastes, the organism consumes water to to make the wastes soluble and easier to get rid of. |