Alpaca Digestive System

(Vicugna pacos)Foregut Fermenter

Joshua Tang

Diet

• They do not need to drink or eat a lot because their three stomachs are extremely efficient.

• Healthy alpacas actually only eat 1.5 to 2% of own body mass in grass and hay (sometimes leaves) per day.

• Their stomachs have evolved this efficiency due to harsh conditions in the heights of the Andes.

Obtaining food

• Alpacas graze and sustain the scarce grass of the landscape and plateaus of Peru by:

- having padded feet to soften impact on grass

- cutting the grass and not pulling its roots out

- and defecating in communal piles for hygiene

Digestive System

a) 80% Stomach Rumen• Alpacas chew their food in a

figure eight to mix food with saliva then swallow it into the rumen.

• The grass is first regurgitated as cud then chewed, swallowed and can be repeated up to 75 times.

• Fermentation begins here with microbe action helping to absorb water and nutrients.

b) 6% Reticulum

• Symbiotic process of microorganisms decomposing cellulose urea and protein take place

• Glandular surfaces of first two compartments:

- Absorb nutrients.- Secretes mucus,

glycoprotein and urea for microbe environment.

c) 11% Omasum and 3% Abomasum

• The third and last compartment of the stomach, abomasum contains strong acid.

• Gastric juices help rapid absorption of solutes and water in the omasum of this compartment.

• Microbes are digested here to form amino acids in the alpaca.

Intestines

• The small intestine (8m) digests and absorbs nutrients.

• There is little left for the large intestine after the stomach’s efficient fermenting ability.

• The large intestine (6m):- absorbs water- absorbs minerals and vitamins- secretes mucus- allows further microbial action

Potential Disorders• Stress factors: - Over crowding - Mate-less

- Hierarchy - Infection/Parasite - Fear - Temperature - Food

• Cortisol is released to help reaction time, concentration, strength, and agility in stress. However cortisol switches off the immune response leaving the body open to infection like facial abscesses caused by foreign matter in grass cuts.

• Stress upsets the pH balance in the abomasum, which can create fatal stomach ulcers. Inappropriate high grain diets can also cause the same.

Bibliography• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca• http://www.owning-alpaca.com/alpaca-habitat.html• http://www.owning-alpaca.com/alpaca-health.html• http://www.owning-alpaca.com/alpaca-stomach-ulcers.html• http://www.owning-alpaca.com/alpaca-diseases.html• http://www.owning-alpaca.com/facial-abscess.html• http://www.owning-alpaca.com/alpaca-diseases-mhaemolamae.html• http://www.owning-alpaca.com/alpaca-digestive-system.html• http://www.alpaca.asn.au/docs/about/info/5nutrition.pdf

Pictures• http://www.tonygraham.co.uk/house_repair/wattle_daub/rumen.jpg• http://www.extension.org/mediawiki/files/a/ac/GoatRumen.jpg• https://www.soils.org/images/publications/cs/42/5/1651f1.jpeg• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Mammalian_Stomachs_remake.png• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e8/Ruversin.jpg• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bolivian_Alpaca.jpg• http://www.alpacamagicusa.com/sitebuilder/images/dung_edited-247x194.jpg• http://sepiensa.org.mx/contenidos/p_rumian/img/esq2.gif• http://www.ca.uky.edu/agripedia/agmania/IAS/ASC106/media/RUMEN.GIF• http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/279/c/2/villi_by_ncs-d306jhx.jpg• http://www.cap.org/apps/docs/reference/myBiopsy/images/BloodNormal_LAM.jpg