NCERT Book Class 7 Science Chapter 2 Nutrition in Animals

2 Nutrition in Animals

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ou have learnt in Chapter 1 that food into simpler substances is called
plants can prepare their own food digestion.
by the process of photosynthesis
2.1 DIFFERENT WAYS OF TAKING FOOD
but animals cannot. Animals get their
The mode of taking food into the body
food from plants, either directly by
varies in different organisms. Bees and
eating plants or indirectly by eating
humming-birds suck the nectar of
animals that eat plants. Some animals
plants, infants of human and many
eat both plants and animals. Recall that
other animals feed on mother’s milk.
all organisms including humans require
Snakes like the python swallow the
food for growth, repair and functioning
animals they prey upon. Some aquatic
of the body. Animal nutrition includes
animals filter tiny food particles floating
nutrient requirement, mode of intake
nearby and feed upon them.
of food and its utilisation in the body.
You have studied in Class VI that food
Activity 2.1
consists of many components. Try to What is the type of food and mode of
recall and list them below: feeding of the following animals? Write
1. ______________________ down your observations in the given
2. ______________________ Table. You may find the list of modes of
feeding given below the Table helpful.
3. ______________________
Table 2.1 Various modes of feeding
4. ______________________
5. ______________________ Name of Kind of Mode of
animal food feeding
6. ______________________
Snail
The components of food such as Ant
carbohydrates are complex substances. Eagle
These complex substances cannot be Humming-bird
utilised as such. So they are broken Lice
down into simpler substances. The Mosquito
breakdown of complex components of Butterfly
House fly
(Scraping, chewing, siphoning, capturing
Complex substance Simpler substances and swallowing, sponging, sucking etc.)