Avian stomach anatomy – a mini review

The stomach of birds comprises three parts – glandular (proventriculus gastris), muscular (ventricu-lus gastris) and pyloric (pars pylorica gastris). Depending on the diet, these three parts are well dif-ferentiated in omnivorous, herbivorous, insectivorous and granivorous birds and slightly differentiated in fish- and meateaters. In fruit-eating, nectar-eating and testacivorous birds, the stomach has an intermediate structure between the two types. In some birds from the genus Tangara, the stomach is reduced to a diverticulum