Ruminant

A hoofed mammal that ferments plant food in a specialized foregut and regurgitates cud for further chewing. Its digestion depends on microbes that break down fibrous material.

Ruminant digestive system: A digestive tract with four stomach compartments that supports foregut fermentation and cud chewing. Its compartments organize the fermentation and regurgitation that define ruminant digestion.
Foregut fermentation: Microbial digestion of food in a fermentation chamber located before the small intestine. Ruminants are the best-known mammals to rely on this digestive strategy.
Cattle: Domesticated bovines raised for products including meat, milk, and hides. Cattle are economically prominent ruminants whose feeding systems affect agriculture.
Pseudoruminant: A foregut-fermenting mammal with a three-compartment stomach rather than the typical ruminant four. Camelids ferment plant food before the intestine but are not true ruminants.
Rumen: The largest stomach compartment in ruminants, where microbes ferment ingested feed. This fermentation chamber makes fibrous plant material usable to its host.
Cellulose: A structural carbohydrate made of glucose chains that forms a major part of plant cell walls. Rumen microbes ferment cellulose that the animal cannot digest with its own enzymes.
Sheep: Domesticated ruminants raised for meat, milk, and wool. Sheep farming uses ruminant digestion to turn pasture into food and fiber.
Hindgut fermentation: Microbial fermentation of food in the large intestine or cecum, after the stomach and small intestine. Horses and rabbits use this alternative location for plant-fiber fermentation.
Reticulum: The stomach compartment that sorts dense particles and helps return cud to the mouth. It participates in the regurgitation cycle behind cud chewing.
Volatile fatty acids: Short-chain fatty acids produced when microbes ferment carbohydrates without oxygen. They are the ruminant's main products of microbial fermentation and a major energy source.

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