The Difference Between the Human Digestive System & the Digestive System of a Cow Essay Example

energy needs.

In contrast, humans cannot break down cellulose and derive no energy from it. The microbes in the rumen also synthesize a variety of vitamins, including vitamin K and B-complex vitamins, which humans cannot synthesize and must obtain directly through their diets or supplements. Finally, these microbes serve to manufacture protein from non-protein nitrogen, such as urea and ammonia, which the cow then converts into amino acids. Humans must obtain amino acids directly through their diet.

Overall, the activity of the microbes in the rumen allows cows to consume and extract nutritive value from an enormous variety of foods that the human digestive system would find nutritionally valueless, including hay, grass and corn stalks. The omasum and the abomasum, also considered part of the cow's stomach, function similarly to the human stomach. The omasum re-absorbs some water while the abomasum produces enzymes and acid to begin digesting protein.

Food then passes into the small intestine, where fats, starches, vitamins, minerals and proteins absorb into the bloodstream, and then into the large intestine, where water is reabsorbed. The primary difference between this portion of cow and human intestines is that the small and large intestines are much longer in cows; the small intestine measures 150 feet, while the large intestine typically measures 33 feet. In humans, these numbers are 20 feet and 5 to 7 feet, respectively.

In conclusion there are plenty of similarities in a cows and man’s digestive system but there is also a lot of differences between them; Cows have a digestive system that enables them to eat and digest plant matter more efficiently than humans. It is

this difference that makes cows able to eat roughage and coarser forages than what humans are able to chew through. Humans, on the other hand, are more able to digest animal proteins more efficiently than cows. Essentially, cows are herbivores and humans are omnivores by natural selection and evolution. References:

Ezinearticles/ Julie Eden. 2007. A Comparison Between the Human and Ruminant Digestive System. Available at: http://ezinearticles. com/? A-Comparison-Between-the-Human-and-Ruminant-Digestive-System&id=2782515. [Accessed 18 October 12]. Cliff Notes. 2010. Human Digestive System. Available at: http://www. cliffsnotes. com/study_guide/Human-Digestive-System. topicArticleId-8741,articleId-8705. html. [Accessed 20 October 12]. Nutrition and Feeding of the Cow-Calf Herd: Digestive System of the Cow, (2009), Compartments of the stomach of cattle [ONLINE]. Available at: