? Ruminantia | ||||||||||
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| [image] White-tailed Deer | ||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
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| Families | ||||||||||
| Tragulidae Moschidae Cervidae Giraffidae Antilocapridae Bovidae |
The biological suborder Ruminantia includes many of the well-known large grazing or browsing mammals: among them Cattle, goats, Sheep, Deer, and Antelope. All members of the Ruminantia are ruminants: they digest food in two steps, chewing and swallowing in the normal way to begin with, and then regurgitating the semi-digested Cud to re-chew it and thus extract the maximum possible food value.
Note that not all ruminants belong to the Ruminantia. Camels and llamas are among the exceptions. Also, there are a number of other large grazing mammals that, while not strictly ruminants, have similar adaptations for surviving on large quantities of low-grade food. Kangaroos and horses are examples.