Intestine and Caecum


Role the intestines to the pig's right to see the view shown here. Trace the path that food would take as it moves through the intestine. If you like, you may try ot tease out the intestine toi see how long it is. To do this, you will have to trim the mesentery carefully. Make sure you are completely familiar with its structure before you destroy it.

The jejunum (1) appears pinky in most fetal pigs. Remember that the fetus is not swallowing anything except a bit of amniotic fluid, so there is little in the intestine. The liver is secreting some bile. By the time the intestinal juices get to the ileum (2) some of the water has been absorbed and the bile is more concentrated. This makes the ileum look greenish. The ileum ends where the small intestine meets the colon (3) a a "T" junction. The other end of the "T" (4) is the caecum. Note that the caecum is large compared to the human appendix, but small compared to the pig's horse-like relatives. The pig is descended from herbivores whose caecum was undoubtedly vital for digeting cellulose, but, like ourselves, it has become an omnivore and gets little if any nutrition from cellulose.

In this diagram, you can also see the bottom of the rectum (slightly out of focus below the caecum) as it passes between the umbilical arteries on its way to the anus. make sure you trace the full length of the rectum on your pig.


Send questions, comments and suggestions to moffatt@hillstrath.on.ca

© Dr. J. David Moffatt
Hillfield Strathallan College
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Last revised: March, 1999