Cows don't have upper front teeth
By SK401001
@SK401001 (934)
United States
January 15, 2007 1:43pm CST
Although a cow has no upper front teeth, it grazes up to 8 hours a day, taking in about 45 kg (100 lb) of feed and the equivalent of a bath tub full of water. A healthy cow gives about 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
A cow has four stomachs: the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. The rumen is the largest stomach and acts as a fermentation chamber. The abomasum is last of the four and is comparable in both structure and function to the human stomach.
With all its grazing and many stomachs, it is no wonder that cows are one of the main contributors to the hole in the ozone layer. Apart from CFC, the biggest culprit is hydrocarbon emissions from cars and cows. Yes, cows! Cows release some 100 million tons of hydrocarbon annually - by releasing gas. To give you an idea of how much gas a cow emits: if the gas of 10 cows could be captured, it would provide heating for a small house for a year.
But unlike what you think, cows release hydrocarbon mostly by burping.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@AKRao24 (27424)
• India
16 Jan 07
Well ! It was an interesting article and I appreciate it ! I knew many of the facts myself as I am a Vet by profession. But the fact that cows emit Hydro Carbons mostly by burping, is something really interesting and I never paid any attention to this fact! Though Vets are dealing regularly with relieving the unwanted accumulated gases in the Rumen ! Nice article ! Kudos! Keep it up!
1 person likes this
@ilse72 (1450)
• United States
16 Jan 07
Since you like fun facts, another animal that has no upper teeth at all is the Alpaca. In fact, the alpaca's only defense mechanism is the ability to spit...they are virtually the ultimate prey since they have no real defense mechanisms.