Chewing chewing, the food (now called a bolus) is swallowed. It enters the esophagus and via peristalsis continues on to the stomach, where the next step of digestion occurs. Premastication is sometimes performed by human parents for infants who are unable to do so for themselves. The food is masticated in the mouth of the parent into a bolus and then transferred to the infant for consumption. (Some other animals also premasticate.) Cattle and some other animals, called ruminants, chew food more than once to extract more nutrients. After the first round of chewing, this food is called cud. Chewing is
Merycochoerus Merycochoerus Merycochoerus is an extinct genus of terrestrial herbivore of the family Merycoidodontidae (oreodont), endemic to North America during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene (28.4—16.3 mya) existing for approximately . A single specimen was examined by M. Mendoza for body mass and estimated to have a weight of 444.3 kg (979.5 lbs). "Merycochoerus" was a cud-chewing plant-eater with a long face, tusk-like canine teeth, heavy body, long tail, short feet, and four-toed hooves.. The long animals are thought to have been amphibious, as members of the genus possessed an elongated, barrel-shaped body and short limbs that are typical adaptations