Crocodile Digestion

When you sit down to eat your steak and chips you probably use a knife and fork to cut around those pesky bones. But the crocodile doesn't have any cutlery to hand, so what can it do?

Well evolution has helped the crocodile come up with a cool little digestion trick.

You see when the crocodile eats it swallows parts whole, this can include hooves, bones and antlers. To help the crocodile digest these items it's thought it has a valve on its heart that can shunt blood past the lungs directly to the stomach.

This blood is rich in carbon dioxide as it hasn't been through the lungs yet and as carbon dioxide is an ingredient to gastric acid, allows the crocodile to produce stomach acid up to ten times faster than that recorded in other animals.

I've put this information into a little animation for you to enjoy, don't forget to watch it if you haven't already. More crocodile facts are on the way.