DEFINITIONS OF RUMINANT & NON - RUMINANT ANIMALS

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1. Guest4936
   

   Non-ruminants( man, pigs, birds) have a single (i.e monogastric) stomach compartment for breaking down food. The non-ruminants can be further subdivided into those who have similar digestive tracts to humans (i.e. the pig) or more specialized digestive tracts (i.e. poultry).
   
   Ruminants have four stomachs in place of one and each is dedicated to a phase in digestion of food. This is more suitable in digesting fiber based foods (like grass),initially softening it within the animal's first stomach (a.k.a rumen) then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again. The other stomachs are the reticulum (the second stomach compartment), omasum (water and inorganic minerals are absorbed into the blood stream here) and finally the abomasum which is very similar to the non-ruminant stomach.

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