Crocodile's Digestive System

Crocodiles are reptiles and like most reptiles they cannot chew, for their mouth cannot move sideways. And the Crocs have adapted away to deal with this problem.

Over the past millions of years, crocs have evolved bigger bodies and longer mouths. This enables more muscle for dragging in animals and for catching fish easier. But out of all these advantages, it forms a disadvantage. They cannot chew. And this calls for only one alternative...swallow chunks of their prey. This is bad for most animals like use for they will not digest properly.

While the food is going down the food pipe, it is met by sand and rocks. These elements help break down the horns, hooves, hair, and flesh. Now the more broken down material enters a pool of hydrochloric acid(hcl). But to keep from digesting itself the crocodile has layers in its body made of epithelial cells to protects itself from the deadly acid.. Otherwise the croc will be digested instead of its meal!


So now you know how the crocodile's digestive system works.