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.
Pouch (marsupial) Pouch (marsupial) The pouch is a distinguishing feature of female marsupials and monotremes (and rarely in the males as in the water opossum and the extinct thylacine); the name marsupial is derived from the Latin "marsupium", meaning "pouch". Marsupials give birth to a live but relatively undeveloped fetus called a joey. When the joey is born it crawls from inside the mother to the pouch. The pouch is a fold of skin with a single opening that covers the nipples. Inside the pouch, the blind offspring attaches itself to one of the mother’s nipples and remains attached for as long