AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The rabbit digestive tract greatly resembles that of a horse. Both are “hind-gut fermenters, ” meaning that they have an organ called the “cecum” that functions much like the rumen of a cow, but instead of being at the beginning of the digestive tract it is at the end.

Detailed explanation-2: -Pseudo-ruminants have a three-chamber stomach in the digestive system. However, their cecum-a pouched organ at the beginning of the large intestine containing many microorganisms that are necessary for the digestion of plant materials-is large and is the site where the roughage is fermented and digested.

Detailed explanation-3: -Because the rabbit does not regurgitate its food and chew the cud, but does rely on gut fermentation and caecotrophy for its nutritional wellbeing, this herbivorous species is sometimes referred to as a “pseudo-ruminant”.

Detailed explanation-4: -Monogastric herbivores, such as rhinoceroses, horses, and rabbits, are not ruminants, as they have a simple single-chambered stomach. These hindgut fermenters digest cellulose in an enlarged cecum.

Detailed explanation-5: -Examples of pseudo-ruminants are horses, rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters.