15-01-2004 20:09									#31
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quote: Originally posted by East Street Trader What would a fully functioning appendix do, then, MM?

If you really want the gory details rabbits and similar creatures don't have the multiple stomachs of ruminants (cows). Instead they have an organ connected to the intestine where cellulose is broken down (by bacteria, I think). They actually produce two types of droppings, one of which has been through this organ, still has nutritional value and which they eat and digest again. The other type has been through the rabbit twice and isn't nutritious so they just leave them.

The appendix is the human equivalent of this organ but doesn't do much in us.

Did you really want to know that?

	15-01-2004 20:41									#32
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How do they know which is which, or how or can they tell the difference?

	15-01-2004 20:53									#33
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quote: Originally posted by alva How do they know which is which, or how or can they tell the difference?

I have no idea. Presumably the rabbits that can't tell die out - natural selection at work!

	15-01-2004 21:01									#34
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Well, that's not too yucky, Cerberus.

I think my curiosity was piqued because the human appendix seems to be a sort of odd, almost archaeological, connection to our animal past. I suppose I thought I might get some extra insight into what things were like for those distant, long dead animal ancestors.

But it sounds as though this is not a use for an appendix that any primate would ever have had.

Go back a bit further still, though, and I suppose whatever animal antecedent predates the monkey may have had some cellulose in its diet?

	15-01-2004 21:14									#35
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I don't remember all the details, it was part of the coursework for the Open University degree I studied about 10 years ago. I think it was more that a common ancestor had an appendix type organ for some reason and in primates it became redundant but in rabbits it developed into this extra bit of their digestive systems.

	15-01-2004 21:27									#36
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It's a darn shame that grass ain't human edible, as it is America's biggest crop. More land in this country is used to grow grass than any other plant.