The basic mammalian digestive system consists of the oral cavity (mouth), the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestines, the cecum, the large intestines and the rectum. The mouth functions in obtaining food and beginning the mechanical and chemical breakdown of the food. The esophagus is in essence a tube directing the food bolus from the mouth to the stomach. The stomach takes various forms in mammals and may actually consist of several chambers although there is only a single chamber in rabbits (this is known as being monogastric). The stomach is a major site of chemical and mechanical breakdown of food in many mammals. The stomach releases its contents in pulses to the small intestine where pancreatic juices are added to further reduce the food. Absorption of nutrients and water also begins in the small intestine. At the end of the small intestine where it intersects with the large intestine is a sac like structure known as the cecum that houses bacteria. The rabbit has a simple stomach making up about 15% of gastrointestinal volume and an unremarkable small intestine. The large intestine is well developed, with the caecum making up about 40% of total gastrointestinal volume; this is the main fermenting chamber. Parts of the digestive system 1-Mouth:The first part of a rabbit's digestive system is the mouth. The rabbit uses its lips to grab food and pass it back to the teeth to cut and grind the plant material. Because this plant material can be coarse and abrasive, the rabbit’s teeth grow continuously to account for tooth .Then the front teeth called incisors — four upper and two lower — neatly slice off pieces of plant matter. The food is then passed to the molars (the back teeth), where it's chewed into small particles and finally swallowed. If fed a diet with too little fiber or plant material, the rabbit’s teeth will continue to grow without being worn and may become overgrown. 2-Esophagus Once food is swallowed, it passes through the esophagus. The esophagus is essentially a tube that transfers food from the mouth to the stomach. Rabbits have a large stomach for their body size to enable them to eat large amounts of plant material quickly. 3-Stomach Rabbits have a relatively large stomach to allow for holding of large meals because they are crepuscular, meaning they eat primarily at dawn and dusk. Once food is in the stomach, it begins to be broken down through hydrolytic and enzymatic digestion, which means acid and enzymes are used to break down the compounds to a smaller size. 4-Small intestine The duodenum is the first section of small intetine. The jejunum is the middle section. The last section is illium. The small intestine is responsible for absorbing the nutrients from the food. The chyme passes into the small intestine from the stomach. Flow into the small intestine is regulated by the pyloric sphincter. The small intestine is the place where the majority of digestion and absorption of nutrients ocurs. As food travels along it, enzymes break the food down into individual nutrients that are small enough to pass through the lining of the intestine and be absorbed into the blood stream. Intestine of rabbit Digestible fiber has nutrients locked away inside it, so the Colon diverts it to the cecum for processing. The left over indigestible fiber doesn’t contain any useable nutrients, but it is still essential to the digestive process, as it has helped carry the food through the digestive system. Meanwhile, in the cecum, a colony of special bacteria ferment the digestible fiber, breaking it down to release the stored nutrients. The cecum can absorb some of the nutrients but most need to go back through the small intestine to be absorbed. To achieve this, the fermented fiber moves back into the colon, where it is coated in protective mucus, before being excreted from the body as special droppings, called cecal droppings. The rabbit eats these droppings so they pass through the digestive tract again. 5-Large intestine and cecum The final sections of the digestive system are the large intestine and cecum. The cecum is a blind sac, or pouch, that comes off the junction of the small and large intestines. It is located where the appendix is in humans. The large intestine, or colon, is the section that continues from the small intestine to the anus of the animal. Any undigested food and all the fiber from the rabbit's diet will pass from the small intestine to the large intestine.the indigestable food pass throw rectum then out of by anus. . At this point, the rabbit’s digestive system is able to sort the material into two portions – that which can be further broken down and used and that which cannot. Large intestine of rabbit Go000000oD BYE