The MOUTH & TEETH of a cow

I happened to visit the dentist today and he told me some very interesting things: The cow's mouth & teeth and how it works!

About the mouth and teeth:
The mouths of cows are very different from most nonruminant animals. Cows have 32 teeth. They have 6 incisors and 2 canines in the front on the bottom.  The canines are more like incisors that like sharp teeth that cats like cheetahs and lions have. We don't have incisors on top. Instead, we have dental pads.  Cows have 6 premolars and 6 molars on both top and bottom jaws each, giving us a total of 24 molars.  In addition, there is a large gap between the incisors and molars.  This allows us to harvest and chew a large amount of fibrous food.


Because our teeth are primarily for grinding and not cutting or tearing, we use our tongues to grasp or gather grass and then pinch it off between their incisors and dental pad.  Since we lack upper incisors, cows cannot bite off grass very well (this is actually quite annoying, but that's what makes us cows). The inside of the cheeks and palate are rough which helps us hold food in while we chew with a side to side motion. So you can't blame us for chewing slowly! Our teeth aren't as sharp as you humans!


Not only does the mouth help to make our food particles smaller, the mouth also aids in digestion by adding saliva to the food. Interestingly, cows produce 20-35 gallons of saliva a day!  The saliva, containing sodium bicarbonate to keep the rumen at the proper pH for good microbial growth, helps moisten the feed. Much of the water contained in saliva is recycled by the cow for use as well. Talk about resourcefulness!

Wow, a cow's mouth alone is so interesting! I'm going to go and find out more about the cow's stomach then! Our super super awesomely cool stomach that has 4 parts! :D

-MooMoo