The practice of external digestion where an organism breaks down food outside its body before consuming it.
From Greek 'exo-' (outside) and 'phagein' (to eat). This term describes a feeding strategy where enzymes or digestive processes work on food in the external environment rather than only inside the digestive tract.
Flies use exophagy to liquify their food on the plate before slurping it up—their saliva contains powerful enzymes that start breaking things down before they even enter the fly's body, making pre-digested food safer to consume.
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