How Do Birds Eat?

Mark wanted to know how birds eat when they don't have teeth.

We found out that they have a gizzard.  When a bird eats the food travel down into the crop (where it is stored) and then it moved onto the gizzard.  When the food is in the gizzard it gets ground up.  Birds eat little stones which are stored in the gizzard.  The stones do the job of the teeth.  It is all very clever.

Mark and Ethan worked together to great their own gizzard.  The used pliers to open some sunflower seeds. Next they soaked the kernels for 20 minutes.  Once the kernels were soft, they were put in a plastic bag with a few stones (from the fish tank) and rubbed the bag between their hands for a couple of minutes.   When they had finished, we could see that the kernels were broken up and the little bit of water that was in the bag was all cloudy.

Now we all know how birds eat without teeth.  Keep asking great questions, Mark.