Editing Ruminant (section)

{{Short description|Hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{automatic taxobox
| name = Ruminants
| fossil_range = {{Geological range|Eocene|Recent|[[Early Eocene]] – [[Holocene|present]]}}
| image = Ruminantia.jpg
| image_caption =
| parent_authority = Spaulding et al., 2009
| display_parents = 2
| taxon = Ruminantia
| authority = [[Scopoli]], 1777
| subdivision_ranks = Infraorders
| subdivision =
* [[Tragulina]] (paraphyletic)<ref name="Clauss2014"/>
* [[Pecora]]
}}

'''Ruminants''' are herbivorous grazing or browsing [[artiodactyl]]s belonging to the [[suborder]] '''Ruminantia''' that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by [[Enteric fermentation|fermenting]] it in a specialized [[stomach]] prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The process, which takes place in the front part of the digestive system and therefore is called [[foregut fermentation]], typically requires the fermented ingesta (known as [[cud]]) to be regurgitated and chewed again. The process of rechewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called '''rumination'''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rumination: The process of foregut fermentation|url=http://www.ultimateungulate.com/cetartiodactyla/Rumination.html|access-date=19 December 2013|archive-date=19 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719095546/http://www.ultimateungulate.com/cetartiodactyla/Rumination.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Ruminant Digestive System|url=http://faculty.fortlewis.edu/LASHELL_B/Nutr2-Rumdigestion.pdf}}</ref> The word "ruminant" comes from the Latin ''ruminare'', which means "to chew over again".

The roughly 200 species of ruminants include both domestic and wild species.<ref name="Fernández-2005">{{Cite journal|last1=Fernández|first1=Manuel Hernández|last2=Vrba|first2=Elisabeth S.|date=1 May 2005|title=A complete estimate of the phylogenetic relationships in Ruminantia: a dated species-level supertree of the extant ruminants|journal=Biological Reviews|volume=80|issue=2|pages=269–302|doi=10.1017/s1464793104006670|issn=1469-185X|pmid=15921052|s2cid=29939520}}</ref> Ruminating mammals include [[cattle]], all domesticated and wild [[bovine]]s, [[goat]]s, [[sheep]], [[giraffe]]s, [[deer]], [[gazelle]]s, and [[antelope]]s.<ref name="Fowler, M.E. 2010">Fowler, M.E. (2010). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2XBSPBZU3EC Medicine and Surgery of Camelids]", Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 1 General Biology and Evolution addresses the fact that camelids (including camels and llamas) are not ruminants, pseudo-ruminants, or modified ruminants.</ref> It has also been suggested that [[notoungulates]] also relied on rumination, as opposed to other [[atlantogenata]]ns that rely on the more typical [[hindgut fermentation]], though this is not entirely certain.<ref>Richard F. Kay, M. Susana Bargo, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lFEgAwAAQBAJ Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation], Cambridge University Press, 11 October 2012</ref>

Ruminants represent the most diverse group of living [[ungulate]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Suborder Ruminatia, the Ultimate Ungulate|url=http://www.ultimateungulate.com/cetartiodactyla/Ruminantia.html}}</ref> The suborder Ruminantia includes six different families: [[Tragulidae]], [[Giraffidae]], [[Antilocapridae]], [[Cervidae]], [[Musk deer|Moschidae]], and [[Bovidae]].<ref name="Fernández-2005" />