AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Cows are known as “ruminants” because the largest pouch of the stomach is called the rumen. Imagine a large 55-gallon trashcan. In a mature cow, the rumen is about the same size! Its large size allows cows to consume large amounts of grass.

Detailed explanation-2: -Ruminant livestock include cattle, sheep, and goats. Ruminants are hoofed mammals that have a unique digestive system that allows them to better use energy from fibrous plant material than other herbivores.

Detailed explanation-3: -Ruminant stomachs have four compartments: the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum and the abomasum. Rumen microbes ferment feed and produce volatile fatty acids, which is the cow’s main energy source.

Detailed explanation-4: -Ruminants are referred to the plant-eating mammals including sheep, goat, deer cattle, buffaloes, bison, giraffes, yaks, etc. These cud-chewing mammals have four chambers of stomachs used for their digestion. These species obtain their nutrition from plant products by adapting to a certain process called rumination.