Humans are bipedal, terrestrial omnivores. As a species, we areadapted to quite a range of habitats, from deserts to mountains andfrom rain forests to tundra. Ultimately, however, we are descendedfrom early hominids who evolved in African plains, and our bodysystems tend to reflect this. Your job is to determine how humansmight be adapted to specific environments if they had evolved toeat a herbivorous diet (grasses or leaves).
Write a brief description of the digestive system, andwhy it would look the way it does. Consider thefollowing:
- What would be required to eat, chew, swallow, break-up, digest,and extract nutrients? You are encouraged to look up other(non-human; can be non-mammalian) animals that share this diet forideas.
- What if humans were not omnivores, but had evolved for adifferent food source? In other words, it would still look*basically* like a human but would have some important differencesrelated to its diet.
- What would the digestive system of a human that adapted to adifferent food system look like, and why would it look likethis?
- You should consider the following parts of the digestive systemin your answer: Mouth & teeth, Stomach & upper digestivetract (including crop & gizzard if relevant), Intestines, andAccessory organs (spleen, gall bladder, liver).
