"The Bible calls the hare a cud-chewing
animal. As any veterinarian could tell you, this statement
is false."
This statement is made in
Leviticus 11:6, where the Hebrew literally means "raises
up what has been swallowed." The rabbit does re-eat
partially digested fecal pellets that come from a special
pouch called the caecum. Bacteria in these pellets enrich
the diet and provide nutrients to aid digestion. According
to the Encyclopedia Britannica: "Some lagomorphs
[rabbits and hares] are capable of re-ingesting moist
and nutritionally rich fecal pellets, a practice considered
comparable to cud-chewing in ruminants ...The upper
tooth rows are more widely separated than the lower
rows, and chewing is done with a transverse movement."
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