The food is softened in the stomach by hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. Omnivores have a different digestive system that either carnivores or herbivores. Carnivores have a very simple digestive tract because meat is easy to digest.

herbivores eats grass which need a longer small intestine to allow the cellulose to be digested while meat is easier to digest hence carnivores have a shrter small intestine.

Herbivorous animals only depend on plant matter whilst the carnivorous animals only depend on animal matter. Carnivorous animals possess a shorter digestive system when compared with herbivorous animals. Herbivores digestive system possesses a long small intestine while the carnivores possess a short, small intestine.

Carnivores eat a smaller amount of food compared to herbivores, and it is in the form of high energy molecules which are relatively easy to digest, compared to the plant material that herbivores eat, which contains cellulose. Therefore, carnivores have a smaller intestine.

As it has strong glycosidic bonds, its digestion takes a longer time. Animals who consume cellulose in their diet need a longer small intestine to allow complete digestion of cellulose. Carnivores have a shorter intestine, therefore they cannot digest cellulose.

The small intestine is longer in herbivore than in carnivore because herbivores consume plant and grass-based food which is full of cellulose and the digestion of cellulose takes a long time. Herbivores need a longer small intestine to allow cellulose to be digested as taken from green plants.

Absorption of digested food occurs mainly in the small intestine because it consist of many finger-like projections called villi that are supplied with numerous blood vessels. They provide a large surface area for the absorption of food.

Herbivores have longer small intestine to allow the cellulose to be digested completely. Herbivores have longer intestine than carnivores to digest grass. The intestine would host many small bacteria that process and breakdown cellulose into glucose.

The structure of the small intestine is designed for absorption of nutrients. The inside of the small intestine is lined with villi that absorb nutrients from the liquid mixture called chyme produced in the stomach from the food we eat.

The three digestive juices just described – pancreatic juice, bile, and succus entericus – are all mixed with food, which passes into the duodenum from the stomach and produces chemical changes as the food passes through the duodenum and jejunum.

Your small intestine should heal completely in 3 to 6 months. Your villi will be back and working again. If you are older, it may take up to 2 years for your body to heal.

The small intestine absorbs most of the nutrients in your food, and your circulatory system passes them on to other parts of your body to store or use. Special cells help absorbed nutrients cross the intestinal lining into your bloodstream.

Food can spend between 2 to 6 hours in your small intestine.

Digestion is a form of catabolism or breaking down of substances that involves two separate processes: mechanical digestion and chemical digestion.

The main organs that make up the digestive system (in order of their function) are the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus. Helping them along the way are the pancreas, gall bladder and liver. Here’s how these organs work together in your digestive system.

villi