Crop (anatomy)

This article is about the digestive croup. For the top of the hindquarters, also known as the croup, see Rump (animal).

A male budgerigar with a full crop after feeding.

One greater flamingo-chick in Zoo Basel is fed on crop milk.

The crop (serial 4) prominently seen at the beginning of the alimentary canal.

A crop (sometimes also called a croup or a craw, or ingluvies) is a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion. This anatomical structure is found in a wide variety of animals. It has been found in birds, some non-avian dinosaurs, and in invertebrate animals including gastropods (snails and slugs), earthworms,^[1] leeches,^[2] and insects.^[3]

Bees

Cropping is used by bees to temporarily store nectar of flowers. When bees "suck" nectar, it is stored in their crops.^[4]

Birds

In a bird's digestive system, the crop is an expanded, muscular pouch near the gullet or throat. It is a part of the digestive tract, essentially an enlarged part of the esophagus. As with most other organisms that have a crop, the crop is used to temporarily store food. Not all birds have a crop. In adult doves and pigeons, the crop can produce crop milk to feed newly hatched birds.^[5]

Scavenging birds, such as vultures, will gorge themselves when prey is abundant, causing their crop to bulge. They subsequently sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food.

Most raptors, including hawks, eagles and vultures (as stated above), have a crop; however, owls do not. Similarly, all true quail (Old World quail and New World quail) have a crop, but the buttonquail or Turnicidae do not. While chickens and turkeys possess a crop, geese do not have one.

Literary reference

The fact that geese do not have crops occasioned what many consider to be the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes'—or rather author Arthur Conan Doyle's—greatest forensic blunder. In "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", a large valuable gem is supposedly hidden in a goose's crop.^[6]

References

↑ "Worm World: About Earthworms". Retrieved 2008-12-16.
↑ Sawyer, Roy T. "Leech Biology and Behaviour, Volume II" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-01-09.
↑ Triplehorn, Charles A; Johnson, Norman F (2005). Borror and DeLong's introduction to the study of insects. (7th ed.). Australia: Thomson, Brooks/Cole. ISBN 9780030968358.
↑ "Honeybee Biology". 1994. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
↑ Gordon John Larkman Ramel (2008-09-29). "The Alimentary Canal in Birds". Retrieved 2008-12-16.
↑ Alfred Hickling. "Review: The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes edited by Leslie S Klinger | Books". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-07-26.

External links

The Alimentary Canal in Birds

Anatomy of the Gastrointestinal tract, excluding the mouth

Upper

Pharynx	Muscles Spaces peripharyngeal retropharyngeal parapharyngeal retrovisceral danger prevertebral Pterygomandibular raphe Pharyngeal raphe Buccopharyngeal fascia Pharyngobasilar fascia Piriform sinus

Esophagus	Sphincters upper lower glands

Stomach	Curvatures greater lesser Angular incisure Cardia Body Fundus Pylorus antrum canal sphincter Gastric mucosa Gastric folds Microanatomy Gastric pits Gastric glands Cardiac glands Fundic glands Pyloric glands Foveolar cell Parietal cell Gastric chief cell Enterochromaffin-like cell

Lower

Small intestine

Microanatomy	Intestinal villus Intestinal gland Enterocyte Enteroendocrine cell Goblet cell Paneth cell

Duodenum	Suspensory muscle Major duodenal papilla Minor duodenal papilla Duodenojejunal flexure Brunner's glands

Jejunum	no substructures

Ileum	Ileocecal valve Peyer's patches Microfold cell

Large

Cecum	Appendix

Colon	Ascending colon Hepatic flexure Transverse colon Splenic flexure Descending colon Sigmoid colon Continuous taenia coli haustra epiploic appendix

Rectum	Transverse folds Ampulla

Anal canal	Anus Anal columns Anal valves Anal sinuses Pectinate line Internal anal sphincter Intersphincteric groove External anal sphincter

Wall

Gastropod anatomy

Shell	Aperture Apex Body whorl Callus Columella Lip Lira Nacre Periostracum Peristome Planispiral Plait Protoconch Sculpture Selenizone Siphonal canal Siphonal notch Spire Stromboid notch Suture Umbilicus Valve Varix Whorl

Other hard parts	Clausilium Love dart Operculum Pearl Radula

External soft parts	Caryophyllidia Caudal mucous pit Cerata Cnidosac Mantle Mentum Notum Parapodium Pneumostome Rhinophore Semper's organ Siphon Suprapedal gland

Internal soft parts	Circulatory system of gastropods Crop Ctenidium Digestive system of gastropods Diverticula Excretory system of gastropods Gastric shield Hancock's organ Hepatopancreas Hypobranchial gland Nephridium Nervous system of gastropods Nidamental gland Odontophore Oesophageal pouch Osphradium Reproductive system of gastropods Respiratory system of gastropods Sensory organs of gastropods

Other	Epiphragm Pseudofeces Torsion Circumesophageal nerve ring Trochophore Tyrian purple Veliger

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