A crop, also known as the craw, is a part of the digestive tract. It acts as a storage facility to hold food until the body can process it. Many birds and other small creatures including insects and earthworms have a crop. Some birds have visible crops that can initially appear to be relatively alarming cancerous growths on the bird’s neck.
A number of animals have crops although most people associate them with birds. Crops work similarly in both birds and animals. Because birds do not have teeth for primary digestion of food, they need an alternate pre-digestive system to process their food and ready it to be broken down in the stomach. If a bird has a crop, it will swallow food but make it stop in the crop. Here the food will be softened before it is passed on to the gizzard, a muscular organ responsible for mashing the food, sometimes with the aid of small stones. The food is then ready to be digested by the stomach.
Crops not only prepare food for the stomach, but they also serve as a storage compartment. Birds with a crop can gorge, which is extraordinarily useful especially for scavengers. The bird can consume a very large meal and process it at a reasonably slow speed. Other birds will use their crop to consume a vast quantity of food in a short time and then will seek a safe place to digest it away from possible predators. Crops can also be used to store food for young birds. Parents will regurgitate the contents of their crops as needed to feed their young.
As a part of the digestive system, the crop is designed to expand to many times it’s size. This muscular organ looks just like a normal esophagus when not in use. When it fills up with food it will expand and swell like a balloon until the food is passed on to the gizzard when it will return to normal size.
You can feel a bird’s crop when it is full. If you gently place a finger on the bird’s upper chest where it meets the neck, you can usually feel something similar in texture to a gritty sandbag. This will be the crop and if you check the same area again a few hours later, it will often have shrunk and be undetectable.
A number of animals have crops although most people associate them with birds. Crops work similarly in both birds and animals. Because birds do not have teeth for primary digestion of food, they need an alternate pre-digestive system to process their food and ready it to be broken down in the stomach. If a bird has a crop, it will swallow food but make it stop in the crop. Here the food will be softened before it is passed on to the gizzard, a muscular organ responsible for mashing the food, sometimes with the aid of small stones. The food is then ready to be digested by the stomach.
Crops not only prepare food for the stomach, but they also serve as a storage compartment. Birds with a crop can gorge, which is extraordinarily useful especially for scavengers. The bird can consume a very large meal and process it at a reasonably slow speed. Other birds will use their crop to consume a vast quantity of food in a short time and then will seek a safe place to digest it away from possible predators. Crops can also be used to store food for young birds. Parents will regurgitate the contents of their crops as needed to feed their young.
As a part of the digestive system, the crop is designed to expand to many times it’s size. This muscular organ looks just like a normal esophagus when not in use. When it fills up with food it will expand and swell like a balloon until the food is passed on to the gizzard when it will return to normal size.
You can feel a bird’s crop when it is full. If you gently place a finger on the bird’s upper chest where it meets the neck, you can usually feel something similar in texture to a gritty sandbag. This will be the crop and if you check the same area again a few hours later, it will often have shrunk and be undetectable.
