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rumen

anatomy
Also known as: paunch

Quick Summary

The rumen is the largest compartment of a four-chambered stomach found in ruminants, a group of mammals that includes cattle, sheep, and goats. Ruminants cannot directly digest fibrous plant material like grasses because they lack the necessary enzymes to break down cellulose. Instead, ingested food is stored and softened in the rumen, where microbes begin to break down cellulose through fermentation.12

Ruminants then regurgitate this partially digested material, known as cud, and chew it again to further break it down. This process, along with the action of the other stomach compartments (reticulum, omasum, and abomasum), allows ruminants to extract nutrients and energy from plant matter that would be indigestible to animals with a single-compartment stomach.12

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