Video narration
When you swallow a bite, what happens to it inside an animal? In a typical mammal, chewing starts the job: teeth break food into smaller pieces, and saliva helps soften it. After swallowing, it travels down the esophagus, the tube to the stomach. There, digestive juices break it down further. But the stomach is not the whole story. Digestion also means taking useful nutrients-the parts of food your body can use-into the body. That happens mostly in the small intestine: the broken-down food passes through its lining, and nutrients enter the blood. What remains moves into the large intestine, where water is taken back into the body. The leftover material then leaves as waste. Not every animal follows this same route; digestive systems differ. So what happens to that bite? Food is broken down, nutrients enter the body, and the leftovers leave as waste.