Digestion of the Spring Peeper
After food enters through the frog's mouth, the tongue moves it through the pharynx to the esophagus. This process of swallowing which transmits food into the stomach is called deglutition. By the time food has reached this sac, it has already been partially digested by enzymes in the animal's saliva. Like most frogs, the Spring Peeper has small teeth, which assist in the physical breakdown of the food it eats. After further chemical breakdown in the stomach sac, the partially digested food progresses to the duodenum -the first part of the small intestine- where the majority of digestion will take place. Between the duodenum and the stomach is a pyloric sphincter which prevents food from moving in the opposite direction. The pancreas then produces juice while the gallbladder makes bile, both which assist to the chemical digestion throughout the small intestine. While passing through the rest of the section of intestine: jejunum(second), ileum(third), and cecum(fourth), healthy nutrients are removed through the intestine wall. In the large intestine, water is reabsorbed, and moved to the bladder. Solids go directly to the cloaca, through which urine will eventually exit the body as well. Fun fact, frogs tend to swallow their food hole![1]
[1]http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/minnaqua/speciesprofile/springpeeper.html
[http://www.tutorvista.com/biology/digestive-system-of-a-frog]
[1]http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/minnaqua/speciesprofile/springpeeper.html
[http://www.tutorvista.com/biology/digestive-system-of-a-frog]