I have read in my book that birds swallow stone to help in their digestion process. What is the need of swallowing stones? And how does it aid them?
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I have suggested an edit for your post for a possibility which I also think but not sure – Pranjal Rana Oct 01 '17 at 07:52
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Mention not :-) – Pranjal Rana Oct 01 '17 at 07:55
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there should be a textbook biology forum and an advanced one on here. it's confusing prefer to interact on a forum with a 1h incomplete response time, instead of geting a complete instant answer from google with illustrations and nice pages. – bandybabboon Oct 01 '17 at 09:30
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Birds do not have teeth so stones help in the process of grinding food.
Before even going to the stomach the food it starts to be processed in the "Crop". However is in the "Gizzard" that the stones play a big role helping this muscular sack to mince and grind the food (the link sends you to an image of an open gizzard with pebbles inside).
Food and stones are present at the same time into this organ, therefore during peristaltic and contraction movements the friction between stones and food allow more efficient grinding.
Here you can a detailed description of the chicken digestive system that can be largely applied to birds in general.
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