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Cows do not digest cellulose cell walls because they, as an animal, are incapable of producing a special enzyme, called cellulase, to do the job. The cellulose-digesting bacteria in their rumen, however, are capable of producing such an enzyme and are thus responsible for digesting cellulose and helping the cow obtain essential nutrients from coarse plant material where she cannot.

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10y ago
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15y ago

Because they do not have the specific enzyme (which are produce by bacteria's in most herbivores located in their stomach) that can break down the cellulose. Even though it is a form of glucose,its structure is very rigid and very hard to be broken down into simpler substrates unless with the specific enzyme.

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14y ago

Animals do not have the right enzymes to digest fiber.

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12y ago

Because you lack the bacteria that produce the cellulase enzyme.

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Q: Why you cannot digest cellulose like the cattle do?
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Humans cannot digest carbohydrate?

Complex answer: Cellulose is a polysaccharide that provides structural support for plants. Humans cannot digest cellulose. Thus, you cannot digest wood, which is mostly cellulose. :Simple answer Humans cannot digest the carbohydrate cellulose. Soures:AP biology class, Textbook :3


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Is wood part of a ladybug diet?

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What makes cellulose nondigestable in humans?

We lack the enzyme cellulase... and we don't have bacteria in our stomachs that do like cows, only bacteria can digest cellulose.


Can you eat grass?

Grass has cellulose, which humans do not have the bacteria to digest, like cows or horses do. You can eat it, but you can't really digest it for energy. Also, something about not having a working appendix.


What are the brown thread like things in stool?

It is probably just fiber from vegetables or fruits you eat, because fiber is cellulose and humans cannot digest it so it passes out whole (which is good to cleanse your colon). Don't worry.


Is a form of carbohydrate that the body can't digest?

Any food that is High in fat. Fat does not digest so easily, and remains the stomach much longer than foods that can be broken down and distributed. The fat will be broken down into tiny bits and then pass through to the small intestine and then stored as "fat" in the cells as well as under the skin.


Why cellulose is an important part of human diet?

The importance of cellulose in a diet is to aid in digestion. Even though cellulose cannot be broken down completely by humans it is used as dietary fiber which is needed for proper digestion.


Why is cellular digested by cattle and not by us?

Cattle are better adapted to break down and utilize cellulose than we are. They have a compound-chambered stomach AND a functional cecum that they are able to use to break down coarse plant matter and utilize that for energy. For us humans, however, we have only a simple stomach and no cecum (our appendix is the only non-functional "organ" in our body), which makes it very hard for us to utilize cellulose in the way cattle and other ruminants can. We're better off eating meat than trying to digest coarse plant matter like half-dead grass. Reason being is that we get more nutrient from meat than we do from plant matter we cannot break down properly.


What is the bad thing of tan buffaloes?

They cannot be penned up, like cattle can be. That's why buffalo can't be raised like cattle.


What is the rate of bird defecation?

It depends on the bird. It is very frequent for birds like Geese which eat vast quantities of cellulose which is very difficult to digest.


What is the indigestible part of a plants is?

Primarily cellulose, which unlike animal cells, use cellulose for their cell walls instead of phospholipids. Most animals lack the ability to digest cellulose, except for ruminants like cows, which have an enzyme called cellulase to break this down.