However well the anatomy of the gastrointestinal tracts of a wide range of mammals are described and quantified, there can be no real explanation of observed patterns without consideration of the mechanical and chemical properties of the food consumed, and digestive stages involved in its processing. This book aims to integrate findings from the many different types of investigations of mammalian digestive systems into a coherent whole. Using the themes of food, form and function, researchers discuss models of digestive processes, linking this with evolutionary aspects of food utilization....

This volume of the series Handbook of Zoology deals with the anatomy of the gastrointestinal digestive tract stomach, small intestine, caecum and colon in all eutherian orders and suborders. It presents compilations of anatomical studies, as well as an extensive list of references, which makes widely dispersed literature accessible.

Introductory sections to orders and suborders give notice to biology, taxonomy, biogeography and food of the respective taxon.

It is a characteristic of this book that different sections of the post-oesophageal tract are discussed separately...

The renowned German reference work The Handbuch der Zoologie/Handbook of Zoology was founded in the 1920's by Professor Willi Kükenthal in Berlin and treated the complete animal kingdom from single cell organisms to mammals in eight thematic volumes: Volume I Protozoa, Porifera, Colenteratea, Mesozoa (1925); Volume II Worms (1933/34); Volume III Arthropoda ex. Insecta (1927/1932); Volume IV Arthopoda: Insecta; Volume V Solenogastres, Mollusca, Echinoderma (1925); Volume VI Pisces / Amphibia (1930); Volume VII Reptilia / Aves (1931); Volume VIII Mammalia. The Volumes Insecta (Eds. N.P....