What is Crop (anatomy)?
[[Image:Budgerigar with full crop.jpg|thumb|right|A male [[Budgerigar]] with a full crop after feeding.]] [[Image:Rosaflamingo-Küken - Fuetterung mit Kropfmilch.jpg|thumb|One Greater Flamingo-chick in [[Basel]] Zoo is fed on crop milk.]] A '''crop''' (sometimes called a '''croup''' or '''craw''') is a thin-walled expanded portion of the [[alimentary canal]] used for storing food before [[digestion]]. It is found in many animals. It occurs in [[bird]]s, some [[dinosaur]]s, and invertebrate animals such as [[gastropod]]s (snails and slugs), [[earthworm]]s,<ref>{{cite web | title=Worm World: About Earthworms | url=http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/pg000102.html | access-date=2008-12-16 | archive-date=2008-12-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204112103/http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/pg000102.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[leech]]es,<ref>{{cite document | first=Roy T | last=Sawyer | title=Leech Biology and Behaviour, Volume II | url=http://www.biopharm-leeches.com/pdf/bioandbehav.pdf | access-date=2008-12-16 | journal= | archive-date=2005-06-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050601060757/http://www.biopharm-leeches.com/pdf/bioandbehav.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[insect]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Insect Identification: Digestive System |url=http://insectspedia.blogspot.com/2010/10/digestive-system.html| access-date=2011-01-18}}</ref> == Birds == In a bird's digestive system, the crop is an expanded, muscular pouch near the [[gullet]] or throat. It is a part of the digestive tract, essentially an enlarged part of the [[oesophagus]]. As with most other organisms that have a crop, the crop is used to temporarily store food. Not all birds have a crop. In adult doves and pigeons, the crop can produce [[crop milk]] to feed newly hatched birds.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Alimentary Canal in Birds | url=http://www.earthlife.net/birds/digestion.html | author=Gordon John Larkman Ramel | date=2008-09-29 | access-date=2008-12-16}}</ref> Scavenging birds, such as [[vulture]]s, go