Crop (anatomy)

This article is about the digestive croup. For the top of the hindquarters, also known as the croup, see Rump (animal).

A male Budgerigar with a full crop after feeding.

One Greater Flamingo-chick in Zoo Basel is fed on crop milk.

The crop (serial 4) prominently seen at the beginning of the alimentary canal.

A crop (or croup sometimes called a craw) is a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion that is found in many animals, including gastropods, earthworms,^[1] leeches,^[2] insects^[3], birds, and even some dinosaurs.

Bees

Cropping is used by bees to temporarily store nectar of flowers. When bees "suck" nectar, it is stored in their crop.^[4]

Birds

In a bird's digestive system, the crop is an expanded, muscular pouch near the gullet or throat. It is a part of the digestive tract, essentially an enlarged part of the esophagus. As with most other organisms that have a crop, the crop is used to temporarily store food. Not all birds have a crop. In adult doves and pigeons, the crop can produce crop milk to feed newly hatched birds.^[5]

Scavenging birds, such as vultures, will gorge themselves when prey is abundant, causing their crop to bulge. They subsequently sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food.

Most raptors have one; like falcons, hawks, eagles and vultures (as stated above) but owls do not.

See also

• Esophagus
• Proventriculus
• Gizzard
• Gular pouch, in bird anatomy, a flap generally used to store fish and other prey while hunting

References

1. ^ "Worm World: About Earthworms". http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/pg000102.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
2. ^ Sawyer, Roy T (PDF). Leach Biology and Behaviour, Volume II. http://www.biopharm-leeches.com/pdf/bioandbehav.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
3. ^ "Insect Identification: Digestive System". http://insectspedia.blogspot.com/2010/10/digestive-system.html. Retrieved 2011-01-18. 
4. ^ "Honeybee Biology". 1994. http://plantphys.info/plants_human/bees/bees.shtml. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
5. ^ Gordon John Larkman Ramel (2008-09-29). "The Alimentary Canal in Birds". http://www.earthlife.net/birds/digestion.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 

External links

• The Alimentary Canal in Birds

This veterinary medicine–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Annelid anatomy Bird anatomy Mollusc anatomy Insect anatomy Dinosaur anatomy Veterinary medicine stubs Animal anatomy stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? Zhang Zuoyi History of coal mining Look at other dictionaries: Crop (disambiguation) — Crop may refer to: Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use Crop (anatomy), part of the alimentary tract of some animals Crop (implement), a modified whip used in horseback riding or disciplining humans (as punishment or in BDSM)… …   Wikipedia Bird anatomy — Bird anatomy, or the physiological structure of birds bodies, shows many unique adaptations, mostly aiding flight. Birds have evolved a light skeletal system and light but powerful musculature which, along with circulatory and respiratory systems …   Wikipedia Cash Crop (album) — Infobox Album | Name = Cash Crop Type = Album Artist = Rascalz Released = 1997 Recorded = Genre = hip hop Length = Label = ViK. Recordings Producer = Reviews = Last album = Really Livin (1993) This album = Cash Crop (1997) Next album = Global… …   Wikipedia Outline of dinosaurs — See also: Index of dinosaurs articles The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to dinosaurs: Contents 1 Nature of dinosaurs 2 Types of dinosaurs 2.1 By period 2.2 …   Wikipedia Proventriculus — The proventriculus is part of the digestive system of birds, invertebrates and insects. [Encarta World English Dictionary [North American Edition] (2007). Proventriculus . Source: [http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary 1861736288/proventriculus.html] …   Wikipedia Craw — may refer to: Craw (band), a math rock band from Cleveland, Ohio Craw (surname), a surname (includes list) Crop (anatomy), or craw, an anatomical structure [[CRAw (institute)]], an abreviation of Centre de Recherche de l Agriculture Wallonne… …   Wikipedia digestive system, invertebrate — ▪ anatomy Introduction       any of the systems used by invertebrates for the process of digestion. Included are vacuolar and channel network systems, as well as more specialized saccular and tubular systems. Comparison of unicellular and… …   Universalium angiosperm — /an jee euh sperrm /, n. Bot. a plant having its seeds enclosed in an ovary; a flowering plant. Cf. gymnosperm. [ANGIO + SPERM] * * * ▪ plant Introduction       any member of the more than 300,000 species of flowering plants (division Anthophyta) …   Universalium Digestion — For the industrial process, see anaerobic digestion. For the treatment of precipitates in analytical chemistry, see Precipitation (chemistry)#Digestion. Entrails redirects here. For the practice of reading entrails, see Extispicy. Digestion is… …   Wikipedia Life Sciences — ▪ 2009 Introduction Zoology       In 2008 several zoological studies provided new insights into how species life history traits (such as the timing of reproduction or the length of life of adult individuals) are derived in part as responses to… …   Universalium 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”