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Discussion » Questions » Health and Wellness » Do ALL living organisms have intestines?

Do ALL living organisms have intestines?

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Posted - June 21, 2021

Responses


  • 10664
    No, but some don't have the guts to admit it.
      June 21, 2021 6:08 PM MDT
    1

  • 10052
    Bravo! 
      June 21, 2021 6:12 PM MDT
    2

  • 44654
    Plants don't. Fungi don't. Protista don't. I guess the answer is no.
      June 22, 2021 8:04 AM MDT
    2

  • 16839
    A through gut is only found in animals as highly evolved as the earthworm - so jellyfish, corals, sponges, tapeworms etc only have a sac-like gut. No intestines and no anus.
    https://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150313-the-origin-of-the-anus
      June 23, 2021 1:33 AM MDT
    0

  • 3719
    There is one relatively highjly-evolved animal that has such an efficient metabolism and limited diet it needs no excretory organs at all. I assume it transpires its waste - (just water and carbon-dioxide?) - through its skin.

    That animal is the "Eyelash Mite", a microscopic inhabitant of the gap between hair and follicle wall, where it dines royally on sebaceous oil.
      June 26, 2021 5:25 PM MDT
    2

  • 44654
    What happens to the mass that is not metabolized? Reproduction?
      June 26, 2021 5:27 PM MDT
    1

  • 16839
    Fail. Demodex brevis and demodex follicularum are both arthropods. They have the same digestive system as a spider, tick or other mites, and a through gut.
      June 27, 2021 5:02 PM MDT
    1