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Holy Cow!
Category: For Educators
Resource Type: Web-Based
Date Posted: 10/22/2009
 
Cows

This fun webpage about microbes that help cows digest their food is part of a larger website called Microbe Zoo. On this page, students can find out how cows have a special type of stomach called a rumen, which is home to billions of microbes which can eat grass and hay. These bacteria, fungi and protists provide nutrients that the cow can digest. Without these microbes, the cow would die.

During digestion, methane is produced by certain microbes called methanogens. This contributes significantly to world-wide methane levels which will increase as the demand for beef continues to rise. [Source: Microbe Zoo (Digital Learning Center-Microbial Ecology Project), Comm Tech Lab and the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University] Grade level: 2-8.

LINK (http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/zacmain.html) >>
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