An absorbent core comprising: a front portion ; a back portion ; a middle portion position between the front portion and the back portion ; and a longitudinal axis extending along a length of said core and crossing said front, middle and back portions , the absorbent core having a width extending perpendicular to said length and a perimeter comprising at least two opposing ends and at least two opposing sides positioned between said ends , said core comprising an absorbent material sandwiched between upper and lower layers of said core characterized in that the absorbent core comprises at least one interconnected channel substantially free of absorbent material and with at least portions thereof extending along both the length and the width of said core arranged to form an open end proximal to the front portion and a closed end proximal to the back portion and in that said channel is formed by mechanically bonding said upper layer directly to said lower layer at a plurality of distinct bonding sites , wherein each channel portion comprises no more than two consecutive bonding sites taken along a channel width axis (xw), and wherein the core comprises at least one core wrap substrate enclosing the absorbent material therein and wherein a top layer of the core wrap is adhered to a bottom layer of the core wrap to form interconnected absorbent material-free channel(s) , and wherein the absorbent material is selected from the group consisting of cellulosic fibers, super absorbent polymers and combinations thereof, and wherein each distinct bonding site has a bonding site width (wb) and the channel portion has a width (w), and wherein the bonding site width (wb) is less than 0.50w and wherein each distinct bonding site comprises a length (lb) that is greater than said bonding site width (wb). a front portion ; a back portion ; a middle portion position between the front portion and the back portion ; and a longitudinal axis extending along a length of said core and crossing said front, middle and back portions , the absorbent core having a width extending perpendicular to said length and a perimeter comprising at least two opposing ends and at least two opposing sides positioned between said ends , said core comprising an absorbent material sandwiched between upper and lower layers of said core characterized in that the absorbent core comprises at least one interconnected channel substantially free of absorbent material and with at least portions thereof extending along both the length and the width of said core arranged to form an open end proximal to the front portion and a closed end proximal to the back portion and in that said channel is formed by mechanically bonding said upper layer directly to said lower layer at a plurality of distinct bonding sites , wherein each channel portion comprises no more than two consecutive bonding sites taken along a channel width axis (xw), and wherein the core comprises at least one core wrap substrate enclosing the absorbent material therein and wherein a top layer of the core wrap is adhered to a bottom layer of the core wrap to form interconnected absorbent material-free channel(s) , and wherein the absorbent material is selected from the group consisting of cellulosic fibers, super absorbent polymers and combinations thereof, and wherein each distinct bonding site has a bonding site width (wb) and the channel portion has a width (w), and wherein the bonding site width (wb) is less than 0.50w and wherein each distinct bonding site comprises a length (lb) that is greater than said bonding site width (wb). <EOS>