Hot answers tagged ruminant
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It is not a biology question but simply a logistic problem. The digestion of cellulose just because of the presence of celluase producing microbes. Rumination itself, by the action of chewing, can enhance the cellulose digestion efficiency by incresing the surface area. Still nothing related to the multiple compartments of the ruminant stomach.
Actually, the ...
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There is more difference than just the parts of plants that are eaten.
Two of their stomachs - rumen and reticulum are not used for digesting food at all. Multiple rounds of chewing and mixing with saliva, wich result in very small particles of undigested food help the bacteria in those stomachs reach, digest and use that cellulose-rich plant material. Cows ...
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If you ever look at a huge pile of elephant/horse dung you will see it is full of poorly digested vegetation. I had an (unfortunate) 4 day project on a field trip in south africa which involved handling a lot of elephant s***, more than once I found whole amarula fruits!
Think about this in comparison to ruminants which have a much better digested pile of ...
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