What specialized structures of the koala's digestive tract helps it to extract nutrients from cell walls, and how do they function?

What will be an ideal response?


The eucalyptus leaf diet of the koala places unusual demands on its digestive system. Compared to other herbivores, koalas have a huge caecum and an enlarged proximal colon. Since koalas only get 13% of their energy from fermentation of cells walls, some fermentation may be going on here, but some other mechanics are involved in getting most of their nutrients. One function of these structures is to sort the chewed food so that the large indigestible leaf fragments are separated from the small particles and solutions of nutrients. The large particles are removed relatively quickly, and the smaller elements retained for thorough processing. The colon's back-and-forth peristalsis tends to force the smaller elements into the caecum and retain the larger leaf fragments for more rapid elimination.

Biology & Microbiology

You might also like to view...

In order to express eukaryotic genes in a bacterium, the ________ must first be removed.

A. enhancers B. introns C. exons D. 3' poly A sequence

Biology & Microbiology

Which phases comprise interphase?

a. G1 and G2 b. S and G2 c. G1 and S d. G1, S, and G2 e. prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase

Biology & Microbiology

You have crossed two Mexican hairless dogs, and the offspring are 1/3 hairy and 2/3 hairless. Given this phenotypic ratio, draw the Punnett square for this cross

What are the genotypes of the P1 and F1 dogs in this cross? List the predicted genotype as well as the phenotype for each of the offspring. Which genotypes are hairless, and which are hairy? Can you design a genetic cross that would yield a true-breeding hairless line (where all offspring are hairless)?

Biology & Microbiology

Assuming that a particular disorder is caused by an allele of a single gene, what feature of a pedigree would allow one to conclude that the disorder was caused by a dominant allele?

a) two unaffected parents have an unaffected child b) two unaffected parents have an affected child c) an affected mother only has affected sons d) two affected parents have an unaffected child e) all of the descendants of a particular affected person are also affected

Biology & Microbiology