Have you ever noticed that some species of animals are constantly chewing? This habit is common in animals called ruminants. But do you know what that means?
we call ruminants the animals that have a digestive system adapted for the digestion of products of plant origin. This digestive system, unlike ours, has a stomach with four very different chambers. The digestion process is also quite different, and food passes through the mouth more than once.
To understand the digestion process of these animals, we must first understand the anatomy of their digestive system. A ruminant's stomach is made up of the following parts:
Observe the parts of the stomach of a ruminant
- Paw or rumen: In this region of the stomach, food of vegetable origin is softened and cellulose, a carbohydrate present in vegetables, is digested. Cellulose is only digested thanks to bacteria that produce enzymes that break down this carbohydrate. It is worth noting that we humans are not capable of digesting cellulose.
- Hat or crosshair: In this part of the stomach, small portions of food are formed that will return to the mouth for chewing.
- Hardwood or omaso: In this portion of the stomach, the absorption of water and minerals found in food takes place.
- Clot or abomasum: In this region of the stomach, the action of digestive enzymes takes place, which break down nutrients into smaller particles for absorption. It is also called the true stomach.
The digestion process starts in the mouth, just as it does in most animals. The food is swallowed, moves towards the rumen and then to the reticulum. From the reticulum, the food is sent back to the mouth, where chewing takes place. After being chewed, the food is swallowed again and taken to the omasum and abomasum. From the stomach, the remains are sent to the intestine and are later eliminated.
As examples of ruminant animals, we can mention oxen, buffalos, camels, giraffes, dromedaries, llamas, deer, reindeer, among others.
By Ma. Vanessa dos Santos
