How many stomachs does a camel have?

Camel is the general name of two animals of the genus Camelaceae. Humans living on the edge of the desert began to domesticate camels as early as 3000 BC. Ruminants generally refer to animals with multiple stomachs at the same time, and camels are ruminants. So camels also have multiple stomachs. Let's take a look at how many stomachs camels have.

How many stomachs does a camel have?

Camels have three stomachs, lack of flaps, and can regurgitate. Camels can endure hunger and thirst. Every time they drink enough water, they can not drink water for several days, and they can still move in hot, dry desert areas. As there are many very thin and tortuous pipes in the nose, the pipes are usually moistened by liquids. When the body is short of water, the pipes immediately stop secreting liquid and form a hard skin on the surface of the pipes, so that it absorbs exhaled water without losing the body. When inhaling, the water in the hard skin can be sent back to the body. Water is so recycled in the body that it can withstand thirst.

Controversy over camel stomach

1. Camels have two stomach chambers: some people think that camels have two stomachs, one for storing water and the other for storing food.

2. Camels have three stomach chambers: some people think that camels have three stomach chambers. The first room is a water tank, which can hold water, so it is resistant to hunger and thirst. Camels drink water once, but they don't have to drink water for half a month. This is a special function given to camels by the desert. The second room is the stomach sac that eats hay, and the third room is the stomach sac with digestion and absorption function. There are so many stomach sacs in a camel that it can't usually starve to death.

3. Camels have four stomach chambers: some people think that camels, like other ruminants, are divided into four chambers, namely, rumen, reticulum, double stomach and abomasum. The first two stomach chambers (rumen and reticulum) mix food and bile, especially using symbiotic bacteria to break down cellulose into glucose. The food is then regurgitated and chewed slowly to fully mix to further decompose the fiber. Then re-swallow, through the rumen to the double valve stomach, dehydration. And then sent to the abomasum. Finally, it is sent to the intestinal tract for absorption.

Expansion: the stomach of ruminants

1. Rumen: Rumen is the first "darkroom" in which food enters the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants, and it is also the "main battlefield" of food digestion. The rumen is a closed living fermentor, which is inhabited by many kinds of microorganisms, including protozoa, bacteria and fungi. After the food is fully digested by microorganisms in the rumen, about 50% of the crude fiber can be digested in the rumen.

2. Reticulum: the reticulum is a stomach chamber close to the rumen, which is not completely separated from the rumen in spatial structure, so food particles can freely shuttle back and forth between the two stomach chambers. The food eaten by ruminants in the wild often contains some foreign bodies such as iron nails, and the reticular stomach is like a sieve in which these foreign bodies are stored, which not only acts as a filter, but also prevents foreign bodies from harming the inner surface of other intestines.

3. Valvular stomach: the valvular stomach is connected to the reticulated stomach in front of the abomasum, and the digestion of food is more like a "sequel" of rumen digestion, just like a water pump, where the rough part of the surimi from the rumen is concentrated, water and electrolytes are removed and further ground, at the same time, the thinner surimi is pushed into the abomasum. In the stomach, 20% of the fiber in the food can be digested.

4. Abomasum: abomasum is the stomach chamber after the small intestine, and it is also the only stomach with secretory function, which has real digestive function, so it is called true stomach. The abomasum can secrete a large amount of gastric juice, including digestive enzymes such as hydrochloric acid, pepsin and Chymosin, as well as a large amount of mucus. These secretions mainly carry out further chemical digestion of the first three food primary metabolites digested by the stomach.