Crop (anatomy) Crop (anatomy) A crop (sometimes also called a croup or a craw, or ingluvies) is a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion. This anatomical structure is found in a wide variety of animals. It has been found in birds, and in invertebrate animals including gastropods (snails and slugs), earthworms, leeches, and insects. Cropping is used by bees to temporarily store nectar of flowers. When bees "suck" nectar, it is stored in their crops. In a bird's digestive system, the crop is an expanded, muscular pouch near the gullet or throat.
Cheek pouch when, in actuality, their cheeks are merely elastic due to a high degree of musculature and innervation in the region. The true cheek pouch, however, is evident in the former Heteromyidae and Geomyidae groups. Cheek pouches are more pronounced in certain rodents, such as hamsters, yet this structure is also distinguishable on certain species of rat, like the Gambian pouched rat, of which extensive morphological investigations have been conducted. Aspects including rat pouch musculature, vascularization, and innervation were all explored and compiled through this and other studies. The widely distributed "Rattus rattus" is an example of the rodent family Muridae