NCERT Curiosity · Class 7 · Science
Life Processes in Animals
A cow keeps chewing even when it isn't eating — and chewed rice starts tasting sweet the longer you chew it.
Digestion Rumination Breathing Respiration
Key idea
The Alimentary Canal
Mouth
→
Oesophagus
→
Stomach
→
Small intestine
→
Large intestine
Key idea
The Mouth and the Stomach
The mouth

Teeth crush food, while saliva breaks starch into sugar — why chewed starchy food tastes sweet.

The stomach

Digestive juice, acid, and mucus break down proteins and kill harmful bacteria.

Key idea
The Small and Large Intestine
Small intestine

About 6 metres long — receives bile and pancreatic juice, and absorbs nutrients into the blood.

Large intestine

Absorbs water and salts from undigested food, forming stool.

Key idea
Special Digestive Tricks
Rumination

Cows chew grass partially, swallow, then bring it back to chew again — about 8 hours a day.

The bird's gizzard

A muscular chamber grinds food without teeth, often with swallowed grit.

Key idea
Breathing
Inhalation

Ribs move up and outward, the diaphragm moves down — air enters the lungs.

Exhalation

Ribs move down and inward, the diaphragm moves up — pushing air back out.

Key idea
Glucose + Oxygen → Carbon dioxide + Water + Energy
This exchange happens at the alveoli — tiny air sacs in the lungs — where oxygen enters the blood and carbon dioxide leaves it.
Key idea
Breathing Is Not the Same as Respiration
Breathing

A physical process — the movement of air in and out of the lungs.

Respiration

A chemical process — releasing energy from glucose, using oxygen, inside cells.

Key idea
How Other Animals Breathe

Birds, mammals, reptiles

Breathe through lungs.

Fish

Breathe through gills.

Frog

Gills as a tadpole, then lungs and skin.

Earthworm

Breathes through moist skin.

Chapter · key terms to remember
Key Terms

Alimentary canal

The tube from mouth to anus where digestion happens.

Digestion / Absorption

Breaking food down / nutrients entering the blood.

Egestion

Expelling undigested waste as stool.

Chapter · key terms to remember
More Key Terms

Rumination

Bringing food back up to chew again.

Gizzard

A bird's muscular food-grinding chamber.

Breathing

The physical movement of air in and out.

Chapter · key terms to remember
More Key Terms

Respiration

The chemical release of energy from glucose.

Gills

Organs for exchanging gases with water.

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