 Large intestine, the large intestine, also known as the large bowel or colon, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system invertebrates. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored as feces before being removed by defecation. Most sources define the large intestine as the combination of the cecum, colon, rectum, and anilkinthal. Some other sources exclude the anilkinthal. In humans, the large intestine begins in the right iliac region of the pelvis, just at or below the waist, where it is joined to the end of the small intestine at the circum, via thyliocecal valve. It then continues as the colon ascending the abdomen, across the width of the abdominal cavity as the transverse colon, and then descending to the rectum and its endpoint at the anilkinthal. Overall, in humans, the large intestine is about 1.5 meter 5 feet long, which is about 1.5 of the whole length of the gastrointestinal tract.