the food channel

vegetables

the food channel

conversation between human and paramecium

p: What's that in your mouth pore?
h: A sandwich.
p: How do you get the sandwich to your organelles?
h: Digestive tract.
p: You're digestive tract connects to everything else?
h: No, the circulatory system does that.
p: How do you get food into the circulatory system?
h: It gets digested. That feeds the blood in the intestines and such. Waste products are removed by the bladder and colon.
p: Don't you have an anal pore?
h: Please...
p: There is an easier method.
h: For you maybe.
p: Your food conversion methods are not energy-efficient. There are too many moving parts -- too much stuff to break down.
h: Like a luxury car?
p: We don't need digestive tracks and circulatory systems. A vacuole takes food around to the organelles like the coffee-break truck that visits your human construction sites.
h: How do organelles choose what to eat?
p: I don't know. They take what they need and leave the rest.
h: And if there's anything left over...?
p: Like peanut shells.
h: That stuff gets dumped out the anal pore?
p: Yes.
h: How does the food vacuole get back to the oral groove and the gullet?
p: I don't know, I suppose the macronucleus tells it where to go.
h: Thank you. I’m having a wonderful time tonight.
p: Yes the food is delicious.

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4-11/21