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why is small intestine in herbivores longer than in carnivores?

Your friends are absolutely right- Its true that the length of small intestine depends on the eating habits of an organism. It is small intestine which receives food from the stomach, enzymes from pancreas & bile and completes the digestion of all food components like proteins, fats & carbohydrates. If an organism is herbivore for example goat , its chief food component would be plants which contain cellulose. As the cellulose is large and complex substance, its digestion process is quite longer whereas in case of flesh eating animals like lion , the digestion takes place easily and faster as meat is easy to digest.

@Others:- Good answers, keep contributing!!

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we know that herbivores animals eat green plants and the cell structure iss mainly bounded by cellulose so for the breaking of cellulose food must stay for longer duration of time in small intestine that's why they have longer small intestine than carnivores animals

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herbivores eats grass which contains a lot of cellulose and to digest this cellulose small intestine is longer in them whereas in case of carnivores small intestine is shorter because they eat meat which can be digested easily.

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