Plural of cecum; the pouch-like beginning of the large intestine in mammals where the small intestine joins the colon.
From Latin caecum, literally meaning blind, because the closed end resembled a blind alley. The term has been used in anatomy since Roman times.
Humans have one cecum and it seems kind of useless to us, but in herbivores like rabbits and horses, the cecum is absolutely massive because it's where they ferment plant material—nature recycles the same basic tool for totally different jobs.
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