Golden Fleece
by LeeAnn McLaneGoetz McLaneGoetzStudioLLCcom
Title
Golden Fleece
Artist
LeeAnn McLaneGoetz McLaneGoetzStudioLLCcom
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Snowfest 2012 Frankenmuth Michigan
Sheep are exclusively herbivorous mammals. Most breeds prefer to graze on grass and other short roughage, avoiding the taller woody parts of plants that goats readily consume. Both sheep and goats use their lips and tongues to select parts of the plant that are easier to digest or higher in nutrition. Sheep, however, graze well in monoculture pastures where most goats fare poorly. Like all ruminants, sheep have a complex digestive system composed of four chambers, allowing them to break down cellulose from stems, leaves, and seed hulls into simpler carbohydrates. When sheep graze, vegetation is chewed into a mass called a bolus, which is then passed into the first chamber: the rumen. The rumen is a (5 to 10 gal) organ in which feed is fermented via a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria, protozoa, and yeasts of the gut flora.The bolus is periodically regurgitated back to the mouth as cud for additional chewing and salivation.Cud chewing is an adaptation allowing ruminants to graze more quickly in the morning, and then fully chew and digest feed later in the day.This is safer than grazing, which requires lowering the head thus leaving the animal vulnerable to predators, while cud chewing does not.
Uploaded
January 30th, 2012
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