Ruminants
or RUMINANTIA, a group of herbivorous mammals, belonging to the great order of hoofed or ungulate Mammals, included in the Artiodactyle or "even-toed" section of these, and comprising the five families Camelidæ (camel and Ilama), Tragulidæ (chevrotain), Cervidæ (true deer), Camelopardalidæ (giraffe), and Bovidæ or Cavicornia (ox, sheep, goat, antelope). The faculty of rumination, though it gives name to this order, is not quite peculiar to it. Ruminants are distinguished from other orders by certain peculiarities of dentition. The most typical of the group, the ox, sheep, antelope, etc., have no incisor or canine teeth in the upper jaw, but have instead a hardened or callous pad against which the six lower incisors bite. In the lower jaw are two canines quite similar to the incisors, and the Camelidæ and Tragulidæ possess also upper canines. In both jaws are six grinding teeth on either side, separated by an interval from the front teeth. The feet of ruminants are cloven.
Horns, developed in pairs, are present in the majority of the species; either solid, as in the antlers of the true deer, or hollow as in the horns of the ox, etc. The alimentary canal is very long. The stomach is divided into four compartments. In young ruminants, which feed on milk, the first three "stomachs" remain undeveloped till the animal begins to take vegetable food. Most of the ruminants are suitable for human food. They are generally gregarious, and are represented by indigenous species species in all parts of the world except Australia.