why do cows have 4 stomachs?

Answer 1

Cows have a stomach with 4 chambers; rumen, reticulum, omasum and the abomasum. The cow ingests food and masticates it to break the cell wall. After entering the first two chambers, the cow regurgitates the cud to further break down the food (fibres); this assists the body in accessing nutrients within the cell which are difficult to obtain due to the nature of plant cells. These chambers contain bacteria (symbiotic) that break down cellulose. The liquid pulp then passes into omasum, which removes water. Finally the food enters the true stomach, abomasum which acts like any typical stomach. Cows should actually be known as bacteriophages, simply because its actually the bacteria that gain all the energy and nutrients required...
Cows do not eat meat (its illegal in Australia to feed cows - and other livestock - meat products - contributes to mad cows disease) - they dont even have the tooth morphology to eat meat!! And rabbits are hind-gut fermenters (cows foregut fermentors) and are known as coprophages; reconsuming their faeces allows to further break down any undigested plant material and bacteria (important gut flora). They only eat certain faeces, not all of it.

Answer 2

Because cows, sheep and horses feed on fibrous materials like grass and hay, their stomachs are adapted to suit their needs. The ruminant has four compartments in their stomach, the abomasum, the rumen, the reticulum and the omasum

In the largest compartment, the rumen, there are millions of bacteria and protozoans.

These organisms produce enzymes that break down cellulose into starch. The organism get what they want and the cows gets the energy value.

This kind of relationship is called a symbiotic relationship.

The organisms can also make all the amino acids needed for the ruminant so there are no essential amino acids. These bacteria can make all B vitamins as well.

The rumen is nearly 250 litres in volume and is far bigger than the other compartments. Breakdown of cellulose occurs here. The reticulum is the smallest of the compartments and is used to bring food back to the mouth to be re-chewed (chewing the cud). The omasum squeezes the semi – digested food and increases the surface area for the bacteria. In the abomasum all the processes that take place in the stomach of the human occur here.


No amylase is found in the saliva of cows, so chewing the grass only breaks the food down physically. This increases the surface area for chemical breakdown in the stomach compartments.

Answer 3

Actually cow are Omnivores so they eat meat and vegetables so they have a 4 stomachs.

Answer 4

No. they only hav 1 stomach but with four compartments as they hav a ruminating habit.

Answer 5

This is because grass is their staple diet and the main substance found in grass in chlorophyll which is notoriously difficult to break down and thus digest.

Bovines pass the part digested nourishment from stomach to stomach in order to obtain the maximum benefit from it.

Did you know that rabbits re-eat their own faeces in order to accomplish the same goal?

Answer 6

They don't- they have 4 compartments, each with a specialty.

Answer 7

they eat grass,so they have two stomachs for meat & two for grass.