Are the upper front teeth of cows large or small? If you think the answer is large, it is wrong. But then, if you think it is small, that’s wrong too. Because it was a trick question cows have no upper front teeth! Not just cows, other ruminants such as sheep and goats don’t have them either. So, does it affect how they eat? Come, let’s find out.
Incisors (or front teeth) help humans and animals bite into food. So, one imagines that the absence of incisors could be problematic. While it is true that ruminants do not have upper incisors, that space is not empty. They have a thick, hard gum line called the dental pad. To both suckle as a young one or grab grass, the dental pad comes in handy. Also, since the upper lip of the cow is not very mobile (whereas goats and sheep have more flexible upper lips), the cow depends a lot on its tongue to grasp grass or plant matter. But remember that these animals lack only upper incisors. They still have the lower incisors, and both upper and lower molars that help with grinding their food. Once it uses its dental pad and tongue to grasp food, the cow pushes its food to “the molars that shred the grass into small pieces that are more easily digested”. What aids in the grinding / shredding is also the way the cow chews its food in a side-to-side fashion that distributes food to the molars.
Did you know?
A cow grasps grass and swallows it after just a little bit of chewing. When it has eaten to its heart’s content, it uses its ability to “bring back to its mouth the grass it swallowed (which is now called cud). It chews the grass thoroughly this time, and swallows it making digestion easier. This process is called chewing the cud.
Picture Credit : Google
