Cud population to live and function. Consumption by ruminants of an insufficiently fibrous diet leads to little cud formation and therefore lowered amounts of saliva production. This in turn is associated with rumen acidosis, where the rumen pH can fall to 5 or lower. Rumen acidosis is associated with a lowered appetite which leads to still lower rates of saliva secretion. Eventually, a collapse of the microbial ecosystem in the rumen will occur because of the low pH. Acute rumen acidosis can lead to death of the animal, and will occur if the animal is allowed to eat a diet with
Kosher animals that naturally live in Canaan, except for primates, and equids (horses, zebras, etc.), which are not mentioned in Leviticus as being either ritually clean or unclean, despite their importance in warfare and society, and their mention elsewhere in Leviticus. In an attempt to help identify animals of ambiguous appearance, the Talmud, in a similar manner to Aristotle's earlier "Historia Animalium", argued that animals without upper teeth would always chew the cud and have split hoofs (thus being ritually clean), and that no animal with upper teeth would do so; the Talmud makes an exception for the case of the camel