|
|
 44 ptarmigan caecum DHJanzen101176.jpg high resolution
|
|
| But there is more to a winter ptarmigan than lunch. Here the intestine is laid out on the hood of the car, but there is more than a simple intestine here. Note that about 4 inches above the anus (where the intestine abruptly ends up near the top of the image), there are two long, very long, blind pockets coming off the intestine. This bird has TWO caecae (recall the caecum in the pig, your appendix). Just as with mammals, these two long thin blind pockets come off at the point where the small intestine (food absorption) becomes the large intestine/colon (water absorption). | ||
back to lecture slides
or skip to: