Crocodilia
Digestion

Crocodilian teeth are adapted for seizing and holding prey, and food is swallowed unchewed. The digestive tract is relatively short, as meat is fairly simple to digest. The stomach is divided into two parts: a muscular gizzard that grinds food, and a digestive chamber where enzymes work on it. Indigestible items are regurgitated as pellets. The stomach is more acidic than that of any other vertebrate and contains ridges for gastroliths, which play a role in the crushing of food. Digestion takes place more quickly at higher temperatures. When digesting a meal, CO2-rich blood towards the lungs is redirected to the stomach where glands make use of the CO2 to form bicarbonate and gastric acid secretions approximately 10 times the highest rates measured in mammals. Alligators have a higher ability to digest carbohydrates relative to protein compared to crocodiles. Crocodilians have a very low metabolic rate and consequently, low energy requirements. This allows them to survive for many months on a single large meal, digesting the food slowly. They can withstand extended fasting, living on stored fat between meals. Even recently hatched crocodiles are able to survive 58 days without food, losing 23% of their bodyweight during this time. An adult crocodile needs between a tenth and a fifth of the amount of food necessary for a lion of the same weight, and can live for half a year without eating.
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