Cloaca - wikipedia Cloaca For other uses, see Cloaca ( disambiguation ). In animal anatomy, a cloaca / kloʊˈeɪkə / kloh - AY - kə ( plural cloacae / kloʊˈeɪsi / kloh - AY - see or / kloʊˈeɪki / kloh - AY - kee ) is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts ( if present ) of certain animals, opening at the vent. All amphibians, birds, reptiles, and a few mammals ( monotremes, tenrecs, golden moles, and marsupial moles ) have this orifice, from which they excrete both urine and feces ; this is in contrast to most placental mammals, which have two or three separate orifices for evacuation. Excretory systems with analogous purpose in certain invertebrates are also sometimes referred to as cloacae. The cloacal region is also often associated with a secretory organ, the cloacal gland, which has been implicated in the scent - marking behavior of some reptiles, amphibians, and monotremes. Contents 1 Etymology 2 Birds 3 Fish 4 Mammals 4.1 Monotremes 4.2 Marsupials 4.3 Placentals 5 Reptiles 6 Cloacal respiration in animals 7 See also 8 References Etymology The word is from the Latin verb cluo, `` to cleanse '', thus the noun cloaca, `` sewer, drain ''. Birds Cloaca of a female bird See also : Bird anatomy § Urogenital and endocrine systems Birds reproduce using their cloaca ; this occurs during a cloacal kiss in most birds. Birds that mate using this method touch their cloacae together, in some species for only a few seconds, sufficient time for sperm to be transferred from the male to the female. The reproductive system must be re-engorged before the mating season of each species. Such regeneration usually takes about a month. Birds generally produce one batch of eggs per year, but they will produce another if the first is taken away. For some birds, such as ostriches, cassowaries, kiwi, geese, and some species of swans and ducks, the males do not use the cloaca for reproduction, but have a phallus. In those, the penis helps ensure water does not wash away the male 's sperm during copulation. One study has looked into birds that use their cloaca for cooling. Fish Among fish, a true cloaca is present only in elasmobranchs ( sharks and rays ) and lobe - finned fishes. In lampreys and in some ray - finned fishes, part of the cloaca remains in the adult to receive the urinary and reproductive ducts, although the anus always opens separately. In chimaeras and most teleosts, however, all three openings are entirely separated. Mammals With a few exceptions noted below, mammals have no cloacae. Even in those that have one, the cloaca is partially subdivided into separate regions for the anus and urethra. Monotremes The monotremes ( egg - laying mammals ) possess a true cloaca. Marsupials Cloacal opening in an Australian brushtail possum Further information : Marsupial § Reproductive system In marsupials ( and a few birds ), the genital tract is separate from the anus, but a trace of the original cloaca does remain externally. This is one of the features of marsupials ( and monotremes ) that suggest their basal nature, as the amniotes from which mammals evolved possessed a cloaca, and the earliest animals to diverge into the mammalian class would most likely have had this feature, too. Unlike other marsupials, marsupial moles have a true cloaca, a fact that has been argued against a marsupial identity for these mammals. Placentals Most adult placental mammals have no remaining trace of the cloaca. In the embryo, the embryonic cloaca divides into a posterior region that becomes part of the anus, and an anterior region that has different fates depending on the sex of the individual : in females, it develops into the vestibule that receives the urethra and vagina, while in males it forms the entirety of the penile urethra. However, the tenrecs and golden moles, small placental mammals native to Africa, as well as some shrews retain a cloaca as adults. Being placental animals, humans only have an embryonic cloaca, which is split up into separate tracts during the development of the urinary and reproductive organs. However, a few human congenital disorders result in persons being born with a cloaca, including persistent cloaca and sirenomelia ( mermaid syndrome ). Reptiles In reptiles, the cloaca consists of the urodeum, proctodeum, and coprodeum. Some species have modified cloacae for increased gas exchange ( see Reptile respiration and Reptile reproduction ). This is where reproductive activity occurs. In Gila monsters, Heloderma suspectum, the cloaca can be inflated to cool the body through the process of cloacal evaporation. Cloacal respiration in animals Some aquatic turtle species can breathe underwater using a process known as cloacal respiration. In this process the turtles pump water into their cloacal orifice ( labeled 1 ) by contracting muscles in their inguinal pocket. The water then travels to the cloacal bursae ( labeled 2 ), which are a pair of internal pouch - like structures. The cloacal bursae are lined with long fimbriae ( labeled 3 ), which is the site of gas exchange. For more details on this topic, see Cutaneous respiration. Some turtles, especially those specialized in diving, are highly reliant on cloacal respiration during dives. They accomplish this by having a pair of accessory air bladders connected to the cloaca which can absorb oxygen from the water. Various fish, as well as polychaete worms and even crabs, are specialized to take advantage of the constant flow of water through the cloacal respiratory tree of sea cucumbers while simultaneously gaining the protection of living within the sea cucumber itself. At night, many of these species emerge from the anus of the sea cucumber in search of food. See also Cloaca ( embryology ) References Jump up ^ Cassell 's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J.R.V, & Charles, Joseph F., ( Eds. ), Revised Edition, 1928, p. 103 Jump up ^ Lynch, Wayne ( 2007 ). `` The Cloacal Kiss ''. Owls of the United States and Canada. JHU Press. p. 151. ISBN 0 - 8018 - 8687 - 2. Jump up ^ Hoffman, Ty C.M. ; Walsberg, Glenn E. ; DeNardo, Dale F. ( 2007 ). `` Cloacal evaporation : an important and previously undescribed mechanism for avian thermoregulation ''. The Journal of Experimental Biology. 210 ( 5 ) : 741 -- 9. PMID 17297135. doi : 10.1242 / jeb. 02705. Jump up ^ Hager, Yfke ( 2007 ). `` Cloacal Cooling ''. The Journal of Experimental Biology. 210 ( 5 ) : i. doi : 10.1242 / jeb. 02737. ^ Jump up to : Romer, Alfred Sherwood ; Parsons, Thomas S. ( 1977 ). The Vertebrate Body. Philadelphia, PA : Holt - Saunders International. pp. 396 -- 399. ISBN 0 - 03 - 910284 - X. Jump up ^ Mervyn Griffiths ( 2 December 2012 ). The Biology of the Monotremes. Elsevier Science. ISBN 978 - 0 - 323 - 15331 - 7. Jump up ^ Gadow, H. On the systematic position of Notoryctes typhlops. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1892, 361 -- 370 ( 1892 ). Jump up ^ Riedelsheimer, B., Unterberger, P., Künzle, H. and U. Welsch. 2007. Histological study of the cloacal region and associated structures in the hedgehog tenrec Echinops telfairi. Mammalian Biology 72 ( 6 ) : 330 - 341. Jump up ^ On Dryolestid affinities ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Biological Reviews - Cambridge Journals Jump up ^ Stephen J. Divers ; Douglas R. Mader ( 13 December 2005 ). Reptile Medicine and Surgery - E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences. ISBN 1 - 4160 - 6477 - X. Jump up ^ C. Edward Stevens ; Ian D. Hume ( 25 November 2004 ). Comparative Physiology of the Vertebrate Digestive System. Cambridge University Press. pp. 23 --. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 61714 - 7. Jump up ^ Orenstein, Ronald ( 2001 ). Turtles, Tortoises & Terrapins : Survivors in Armor. Firefly Books. ISBN 978 - 1 - 55209 - 605 - 5. Jump up ^ `` Cloaca ''. biologydictionary.net. Retrieved 8 September 2017. Jump up ^ Dunson, William A. ( 1960 ). `` Aquatic Respiration in Trionyx spinifer asper ''. Herpetologica. Herpetologists ' League. 16 ( 4 ) : 277 -- 83. JSTOR 3889486. Jump up ^ The Straight Dope - Is it true turtles breathe through their butts ? Jump up ^ Aquarium Invertebrates by Rob Toonen, Ph. D. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cloaca&oldid=799572165 '' Categories : Animal anatomy Bird anatomy Sex organs Animal reproductive system Hidden categories : Articles needing more detailed references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2013 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Қазақша Latina Lietuvių Limburgs Magyar Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Scots Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Basa Sunda Suomi Svenska Тоҷикӣ Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 8 September 2017, at 14 : 52. 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Question: what body system is the cloaca part of
Answer: animal anatomy