Ruminants are herbivorous hoofed animals that feed by grazing or browsing on plants. This process involves fermenting food in their stomach to break it down, regurgitating and chewing on the resulting ingested material called cud, before finally being able to digest their food and absorb nutrients from it.
The word “ruminants” is only used to describe animals with four-chambered stomachs. Other animals also similarly consume plant matter but possess specific differences. These include animals with three-chambered stomachs like camels and hippopotami and monogastric species like horses, rabbits, and rhinoceroses. Such animals are called pseudoruminants.
List of Animals that Ruminate
- Abbott’s Duiker
- Addax
- Aders’s Duiker
- African Buffalo
- Alpine Ibex
- Alpine Musk Deer
- Amazonian Brown Brocket
- American Bison
- Anhui Musk Deer
- Arabian Gazelle
- Arabian Oryx
- Arabian Sand Gazelle
- Arabian Tahr
- Argali
- Bali Cattle
- Banteng
- Barasingha
- Barbary Sheep
- Bates’s Pygmy Antelope
- Bawean Deer
- Bay Duiker
- Beira
- Bharal
- Bighorn Sheep
- Black Duiker
- Black Musk Deer
- Black Wildebeest
- Blackbuck
- Black-fronted Duiker
- Blue Duiker
- Blue Wildebeest
- Bohor Reedbuck
- Bongo
- Bontebok
- Bornean Yellow Muntjac
- Brooke’s Duiker
- Calamian Deer
- Cape Grysbok
- Cattle
- Central American Red Brocket
- Central Asian Red Deer
- Chamois
- Chinese Goral
- Chinkara
- Chital
- Common Duiker
- Common Eland
- Cuvier’s Gazelle
- Dall Sheep
- Dama Gazelle
- Dibatag
- Dorcas Gazelle
- Dwarf Brocket
- Dwarf Musk Deer
- East African Oryx
- East Caucasian Tur
- Eld’s Deer
- Elk
- Erlanger’s Gazelle
- European Bison
- European Fallow Deer
- Fea’s Muntjac
- Four-horned Antelope
- Gaur
- Gayal
- Gemsbok
- Gerenuk
- Giant Eland
- Giant Muntjac
- Giraffe
- Goa
- Goitered Gazelle
- Gongshan Muntjac
- Grant’s Gazelle
- Gray Brocket
- Greater Kudu
- Greater Mouse-deer
- Grey Rhebok
- Günther’s Dik-dik
- Hairy-fronted Muntjac
- Harnessed Bushbuck
- Hartebeest
- Heuglin’s Gazelle
- Himalayan Goral
- Himalayan Tahr
- Hirola
- Iberian Ibex
- Impala
- Indian Hog Deer
- Indian Muntjac
- Indian Spotted Chevrotain
- Japanese Serow
- Java Mouse-deer
- Javan Rusa
- Jentink’s Duiker
- Kashmir Musk Deer
- Kirk’s Dik-dik
- Klipspringer
- Kob
- Kouprey
- Leaf Muntjac
- Lechwe
- Lesser Kudu
- Lesser Mouse-deer
- Little Red Brocket
- Long-tailed Goral
- Lowland Anoa
- Mainland Serow
- Markhor
- Marsh Deer
- Maxwell’s Duiker
- Mérida Brocket
- Mongalla Gazelle
- Mongolian Gazelle
- Moose
- Mouflon
- Mountain Anoa
- Mountain Gazelle
- Mountain Goat
- Mountain Nyala
- Mountain Reedbuck
- Mule Deer
- Muskox
- Nile Lechwe
- Nilgai
- Nilgiri Tahr
- Northern Pudú
- Nubian Ibex
- Nyala
- Ogilby’s Duiker
- Okapi
- Oribi
- Pampas Deer
- Père David’s Deer
- Persian Fallow Deer
- Peters’s Duiker
- Philippine Deer
- Philippine Mouse-deer
- Pronghorn
- Przewalski’s Gazelle
- Pu Hoat Muntjac
- Puku
- Pygmy Brocket
- Pyrenean Chamois
- Red Brocket
- Red Deer
- Red Forest Duiker
- Red Gazelle
- Red Goral
- Red Serow
- Red-flanked Duiker
- Red-fronted Gazelle
- Reeves’s Muntjac
- Reindeer
- Rhim Gazelle
- Roan Antelope
- Roe Deer
- Roosevelt’s Muntjac
- Royal Antelope
- Sable Antelope
- Saiga Antelope
- Salt’s Dik-dik
- Sambar Deer
- Saola
- Scimitar Oryx
- Sharpe’s Grysbok
- Sheep
- Siberian Ibex
- Siberian Musk Deer
- Siberian Roe Deer
- Sika Deer
- Silver Dik-dik
- Sitatunga
- Small Red Brocket
- Snow Sheep
- Soemmerring’s Gazelle
- South Andean Deer
- Southern Pudú
- Southern Reedbuck
- Speke’s Gazelle
- Springbok
- Sri Lankan Spotted Chevrotain
- Steenbok
- Suni
- Taiwan Serow
- Takin
- Tamaraw
- Taruca
- Thomson’s Gazelle
- Thorold’s Deer
- Tibetan Antelope
- Truong Son Muntjac
- Tsessebe
- Tufted Deer
- Urial
- Vietnam Mouse-deer
- Visayan Spotted Deer
- Walia Ibex
- Walter’s Duiker
- Water Buffalo
- Water Chevrotain
- Water Deer
- Waterbuck
- West Caucasian Tur
- Weyns’s Duiker
- White Bellied Musk Deer
- White-bellied Duiker
- White-legged Duiker
- White-tailed Deer
- Wild Goat
- Wild Water Buffalo
- Wild Yak
- Williamson’s Mouse-deer
- Yak
- Yellow-backed Duiker
- Yellow-striped Chevrotain
- Yucatan Brown Brocket
- Zebra Duiker
- Zebu
How does the Digestive System of a Ruminant Work?
There are four compartments of a ruminating animal’s digestive system. The first two compartments are the rumen and the reticulum, where the plant matter is fermented. Once fermentation is complete, the ruminant will regurgitate and chew it again until it turns into cud. The 3rd compartment, or the omasum, is where the cud is sent and the fatty acids are absorbed. Finally, the remainder is digested in the abomasum, similar to how a single-compartment stomach works.
Difference between a Ruminating and a Non-ruminating Animal
The main distinguishing feature between ruminating and non-ruminating animals is their stomach structure. Non-ruminants have a simple stomach with a single compartment, while animals with a ruminant digestive system possess a complex stomach with four compartments. Also, ruminants are herbivores, while non-ruminants can be carnivorous, herbivorous, and omnivorous.
