Mammals like cows with multi-chambered stomachs that ferment cellulose with microbes.
Four chambers: rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. Food is regurgitated and re-chewed (cud). Microbes ferment cellulose into volatile fatty acids, and microbial protein is digested later. They produce methane.
Rumination allows efficient digestion of plants. The animals absorb microbial products. Methane is a by-product.
Remember: only the abomasum resembles a true stomach.
Mammals like cows with multi-chambered stomachs that ferment cellulose with microbes.
Ruminants is one of the 53 topics in Zoology & Animal Diversity. It is rated Intermediate, so it suits learners who already know the core vocabulary. Related topics in this area include Digestive Strategies, Animal Respiration, Birds.
Cattle, sheep and deer.
Work through the Beginner topics in Zoology & Animal Diversity first, such as Animal Kingdom, Vertebrates and Invertebrates, Sponges, then return to Ruminants. Intermediate topics assume the Beginner vocabulary.
The closest topics to Ruminants are Digestive Strategies, Animal Respiration, Birds, Marsupials and Monotremes. Comparing them side by side is a good way to see how the ideas connect.
Read the summary and the in-depth section, then use the quick check on the interactive lesson for Ruminants. To practise the whole of Zoology & Animal Diversity, use the Zoology & Animal Diversity quiz.
Ruminants: Mammals like cows with multi-chambered stomachs that ferment cellulose with microbes. Digestive Strategies: Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores have teeth and guts adapted to their diet. Read both side by side and note what each one explains.
First, read the summary and write the definition in your own words. Second, read the in-depth section and note any example. Third, compare it with Digestive Strategies and explain the difference aloud. Finally, take the Zoology & Animal Diversity quiz and come back to this page for any question you miss.
Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores have teeth and guts adapted to their diet.
🦁 Zoology & Animal DiversityGills, tracheae, book lungs and lungs exchange gases in aquatic and terrestrial animals.
🦁 Zoology & Animal DiversityFeathered, warm-blooded vertebrates with wings and lightweight bones, most of which fly.
🦁 Zoology & Animal DiversityMarsupials carry young in a pouch; monotremes like the platypus lay eggs.
🦁 Zoology & Animal Diversity