Stomach

HUMAN STOMACH 

A human's stomach is an internal organ between the esophagus and the small intestines, whose purpose is to hold food after ingestion. There, the food is churned, squeezed and mixed preparing it for digestion. It then passes through to the small intestine where most of the food's nutrition is absorbed.

Stomach diagram in Inkscape.

In ancient Greece, people believed ventriloquists had demons in their stomachs who belched words from their host's mouths.

In 1833 US army surgeon William Beaumont published Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion.The work was deemed an immense contribution to the study of gastric digestion.

To prove that stomach ulcers are caused by bacteria, Barry Marshall drank broth filled with infectious bacteria, got ulcers, then cured himself with antibiotics. He won a Nobel Prize.

Henry Ford maintained that eating sugar was tantamount to committing suicide as its sharp crystals cut a person's stomach to shreds.

A human stomach is able to expand to hold about one litre of food. The stomach of a newborn human baby will only be able to retain about 30 millilitres. 

An endoscopy of a normal stomach of a healthy 65-year-old woman. Wikipedia

The human being's stomach is the only part of their body that could function alone. It has as many brain cells as cats have in their brain.

When you blush, the lining of your stomach turns red as well.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.

The human stomach must produce a new lining every four days to protect itself from its own acid. 

The stomach cells that come into contact with digesting food are replaced every five minutes.

Stomach acid has about the same pH as battery acid.

Butterflies in your stomach are caused by a reduction of blood flow to the gut due to a fight-or-flight response.

Stomach rumblings are caused by air moving through your digestive tract and doesn't always mean you are hungry.

The rumbling sound your stomach sometimes makes is called a "borborygmi."

ANIMAL STOMACHS

Ruminants are mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it prior to digestion. Cows and other "ruminants" — including giraffes, deer and cattle — have four-chambered stomachs, which help them digest their plant-based diet.

Taurine, the main ingredient in Red Bull, is an extract of the stomach lining of cows.

A crop is a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion. This anatomical structure is found in a wide variety of animals such as birds, gastropods, earthworms, leeches and insects.

A male budgerigar with a full crop after feeding. By Sarah G 

The Octopus consists of just a head and tentacles. Therefore his stomach is in his head.

Grasshoppers have ears on their stomach.

A lobster's teeth is located in its stomach.

Hamsters have glands under their stomach that produce a scent enabling them to retrace their steps home.

Sharks can expel the entire contents of their stomach by literally forcing the stomach inside-out all the way past its teeth. This is called 'stomach eversion' and it's a way to get rid of indigestible objects but occasionally the stomach is unable to retract, which can be fatal.

Some animals — including moths, seahorses and platypuses — have no stomach. Their food goes from the esophagus straight to the intestines.

Vultures are fairly unique in that they're able to eat carrion that has succumbed to the effects of decay and disease, a feat few stomachs in the animal kingdom can match.

Source Livescience