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Hindgut fermentation is a digestive process seen in monogastric herbivores (animals with a simple, single-chambered stomach). Cellulose is digested with the aid of symbiotic microbes including bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. [1] The microbial fermentation occurs in the digestive organs that follow the small intestine: the cecum and large ...
Herbivores are unable to digest complex cellulose and rely on mutualistic, internal symbiotic bacteria, fungi, or protozoa to break down cellulose so it can be used by the herbivore. Microbial symbionts also allow herbivores to eat plants that would otherwise be inedible by detoxifying plant secondary metabolites.
A monogastric organism is comparable to ruminant organisms (which has a four-chambered complex stomach), such as cattle, goats, or sheep. Herbivores with monogastric digestion can digest cellulose in their diets by way of symbiotic gut bacteria. However, their ability to extract energy from cellulose digestion is less efficient than in ruminants.
This compartment releases acids and enzymes that further digest the material passing through. This is also where the ruminant digests the microbes produced in the rumen. [22] Digesta is finally moved into the small intestine, where the digestion and absorption of nutrients occurs. The small intestine is the main site of nutrient absorption.
Herbivores form an important link in the food chain because they consume plants to digest the carbohydrates photosynthetically produced by a plant. Carnivores in turn consume herbivores for the same reason, while omnivores can obtain their nutrients from either plants or animals. Due to a herbivore's ability to survive solely on tough and ...
Euungulata is a clade (or in some taxonomies, a grand order) of mammals. The two extant orders of ungulates are the Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates) and Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates). Hyracoidea (hyraxes), Sirenia (sea cows) (dugongs and manatees) and Proboscidea (elephants) were in the past grouped within the clade "Ungulata", later ...
Many herbivores have a diet that is low in nutrition and high in fiber (which is a non-starch polysaccharide carbohydrate). [13] Fiber can be either soluble (pectins and gums) or insoluble (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignocellulose). [13] A simple gastrointestinal tract is not capable of extracting enough nutrients for these animals.
A graminivore is a herbivorous animal that feeds primarily on grass, [1] specifically "true" grasses, plants of the family Poaceae (also known as Graminae). Graminivory is a form of grazing. These herbivorous animals have digestive systems that are adapted to digest large amounts of cellulose, which is abundant in fibrous plant matter and more ...