ruminant

Farming is currently responsible for around 12% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, predominantly nitrous oxide from fertilisers and manure and methane from ruminant livestock, as well as carbon dioxide - to a much lesser extent - from energy and fuel.

The analyses allowed researchers to distinguish residual fats derived from milk, ruminant and non-ruminant animals, as well as of marine or plant origin.

In addition to their association with the destruction of natural habitat, cows and other ruminant animals emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they digest grasses.

From the small ossicones on a giraffe to the gigantic antlers of a male moose -- which can grow as wide as a car -- the headgear of ruminant hooved mammals is extremely diverse, and new research suggests that despite the physical differences, fundamental aspects of these bony adaptations likely evolved from a common ancestor.

There are about 170 modern ruminant hoofed mammal species with headgear, and many more in the fossil record.