Science class 7 chapter 2 notes

Animal nutrition includes nutrient requirement, mode of

intake of food and its utilization in the body.
The process of nutrition in animals involves five stages:
 Ingestion
 Digestion
 Absorption
 Assimilation
 Egestion
The intake of food into the body is called Ingestion.
The breakdown of food into simpler substances is called
Digestion.
The uptake of soluble substances produced during
digestion by the cells is called Absorption.
The use of simpler substances to build complex substances
required by the body is called Assimilation.
The elimination of undigested food from the body is
egestion.
Amoeba is a bacterium (plural: bacteria) made up of single
cell found in pond water.
Finger-like projections made by an amoeba to capture food
are called Pseudopodia (singular: pseudopodium) [pseudo
means false; podium means foot].
 When amoeba senses food, it forms finger like projections
called Pseudopodia, which completely enclose the food,
resulting in the formation of a space or cavity called a food
vacuole.
 When amoeba senses food, it forms finger like projections
called Pseudopodia, which completely enclose the food,
resulting in the formation of a space or cavity called a food
vacuole.Some digestive juices are secreted in the food
vacuole and the food is digested there. It is then absorbed
and assimilated, and the undigested part is thrown out.

The food passes through a number of organs in the human

body that together form the alimentary canal or digestive
system.
Food is digested with the help of digestive juices secreted
by various glands of the digestive system, e.g., salivary
glands, liver, pancreas.
The parts that form the alimentary canal are:
 The buccal cavity
 Oesophagus
 Stomach
 Small intestine
 Large intestine
 Rectum
 Anus
Food is taken into the body trough the mouth, and is
chewed.
There are four different types of teeth:
 Incisors
 Canines
 Premolars
 Molars
Incisors: They are also called biting teeth. They are flat,
blade-like teeth. The incisors are the front teeth and are so-
called because they help to cut food.
Canines: They are also called tearing teeth. They have
very sharp edges and help to tear food.
Premolars: They have broader surfaces and, therefore,
help to chew and grind the food.
Molars: These are large back teeth. They have a wide
grinding surface and are used primarily to chew food.
Bacteria are present all around us, even in our not harmful
to us. However, when we do not clean our teeth properly,
some harmful bacteria start growing in the mouth. These
bacteria, food particles, and the saliva together form a tiny
sticky layer called plaque on the surface of the teeth.
Plaque that is not removed by brushing produces acid. The
acid dissolves the hard tooth enamel. Tiny holes appear on
the surface of the enamel, which slowly gets bigger until
one large hole appears. This is called cavity or tooth decay.
Humans develop two sets of teeth in their lifetime: the milk
teeth and permanent teeth.
The milk set has 20 teeth. Around the age of six, the milk
teeth start falling out, giving way to the permanent teeth.
In the permanent set, there are 32 teeth, sixteen in each
jaw. There are 4 incisors, 2 canines, 4 premolars and 6
molars in each jaw.
The tongue is a fleshy muscular organ attached at the back
to the floor of the buccal cavity.
The function of the tongue is to mix the food with saliva
well and to taste food.
The process of digestion starts in the mouth itself and goes
to the buccal cavity where the food is mixed with saliva.
Saliva, secreted by the salivary glands, contains digestive
juices that help in the breakdown of starch into sugar.
Saliva also makes food slimy so that it can be easily
swallowed.
Once swallowed, the food passes through the buccal cavity
into a long tube called oesophagus.
The length oesophagus of humans is 7.5m long.
The walls of the oesophagus contract and relax to produce
wave-like movements called peristalsis.
The peristalsis movements help to move the food down
into a large sac-like muscular organ called the stomach.
The shape of the stomach is like flattened J and it is the
widest part of the alimentary canal.
The inner wall of the stomach secretes digestive juices,
hydrochloric acid, and mucus. The digestive juices help in
the breakdown of proteins into simpler forms. The
hydrochloric acid kills microorganisms and provides an
acidic medium for effective digestion.
At times, the food is not accepted by the stomach and
vomited out. In that time vomiting happens.
The liver is a reddish-brown gland situated in the upper
part of the abdomen on the right side.
From the stomach, the semi-digested food is called chyme.
From the stomach, the semi-digested food called chyme
passes into the small intestine.
The length of small intestine is 7.5m.
Further digestion of food takes place in small intestine
where the sections of the liver and pancreas are released.
 The liver secretes bile, which plays an important role in the
digestion of fats. Bile is stored in an organ called gall
bladder before being released in the small intestine.
 The secretions of the pancreas called pancreatic juice help
in the breakdown of carbohydrates into sugars, proteins
into amino acids, and fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
 Even though digestion continues in the small intestine, the
main function of the small intestine is to absorb nutrients
obtained as a result of digestion.
 The lining of the small intestine has finger-like projections
called villi (singular: villus) that increase the surface area
of the lining. This makes absorption more efficient.
 Each villus has a network of fine blood vessels. Nutrients
are absorbed into the blood present in these fine blood
vessels.
 The function of large intestine is to absorb minerals, water
and salts from the undigested food.
 The length of large intestine is a 1.5m.
 The final product of carbohydrate digestion is broken
down into carbon dioxide and water in the cells with the
help of oxygen, to release energy.
 Amino acids are used for repairing worn out cells and
tissues. Fatty acids and glycerol act as energy reserves and
are stored for further use.
 After absorption of water and minerals in the large
intestine, the undigested food becomes semi-solid. It is
stored in the rectum until it is removed by the anus.
Dehydration is a condition caused by loss of water
from the body and can be serious.
Sometimes, consumption of dirty food or unclean
water can result in a condition called diarrhoea.
Sometimes, consumption of dirty food or unclean
water can result in a condition called diarrhoea. It is an
infection of the intestine and involves passage of
watery stools very frequently. This leads to the loss of
useful salts from the body and can cause dehydration.
Dehydration is a condition caused by loss of water
from the body and can be serious. It can be avoided by
giving Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) to the patient
suffering from diarrhoea.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has
recommended a simple ORS remedy that can be made
at home by adding sugar and salt to water. ORS
sachets are also easily available in all chemist stores.
A plant-eating animal that brings back swallowed food
into the mouth to chew it again is called a ruminant
and the process is called rumination.
Ruminants have sharp incisors and large molars to bite
and chew grass. They also have powerful jaw muscles.
The length of the oesophagus is 2 to 3 feet long.
After being chewed once, the food passes down the
oesophagus. The oesophagus leads into the stomach.
The stomach of ruminants has four chambers:
 Rumen
 Reticulum
  Omasum
 Abomasum

Rumen: The rumen helps in storing large quantities of

food that has been quickly consumed. The food is
partially digested here and is now called the cud. The
cud is then brought back to the mouth, re-chewed, re-
swallowed in a process called cud chewing. The rumen
has billions of bacteria and protozoa, which break
down carbohydrates called cellulose found in hay and
grass.
Reticulum: The reticulum helps in moving the
swallowed food back into the mouth for thorough
chewing. The reticulum opens into the omasum.
Omasum: the omasum absorbs excess water.
Abomasum: The walls of the abomasum secrete
digestive juices.
The partially digested food of a ruminant is called cud.
Cellulose is a carbohydrate which can be easily broken
down by ruminants but not by humans.
Cellulose is not digested by humans because don’t
have rumen which have billions of bacteria and
protozoa which can easily break cellulose.
Animals like horses, rabbit, etc., have a large sac-like
called caecum between the oesophagus and small
intestine.
Faeces is the eliminated undigested food of a
ruminant.
The working of the stomach was discovered by a
strange accident. In 1822, a man named Alexis St.
Martin was badly hit by a shotgun the bullet had
seriously damaged the chest wall and made a hole in
his stomach. He was bought to an American army
doctor William Beaumont. The doctor saved the
patient but he could not close the hole properly and left
it bandaged. Beaumont took it as a great opportunity to
see the inside of the stomach through the hole. He
made some wonderful observations.
Beaumont found that the stomach was churning food.
Its wall secreted a fluid which could digest the food.
He also observed that the end of the stomach opens
into the intestine only after the digestion of the food
inside the stomach is completed.
 Sometimes when we eat in a hurry, talk or laugh while
eating, we may cough; get hiccups or a choking
sensation. This happens when food particles enter the
windpipe. The windpipe carries air from the nostrils to
the lungs. It runs adjacent to the food pipe. But inside
the throat, air and food share a common passage.
During the act of swallowing a flap-like valve closes
the passage of the windpipe and guides the food into
the food pipe. If, by chance, food particles enter the
windpipe, we feel choked, get hiccups or cough.
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