The Ruminant sorting mechanism protects teeth from abrasives

Dental wear due to ingestion of dust and grit has deleterious consequences. Herbivores that could not wash their food hence had to evolve particularly durable teeth, in parallel to the evolution of dental chewing surface complexity to increase chewing efficacy. The rumen sorting mechanism increases chewing efficacy beyond that reached by any other mammal and has been hypothesized to also offer an internal washing mechanism, which would be an outstanding example of an additional advantage by a physiological adaptation, but in vivo evidence is lacking so far. Here, we investigated four cannulated, live cows that received a diet to which sand was added. Silica in swallowed food and feces reflected experimental dietary sand contamination, whereas the regurgitate submitted to rumination remained close to the silica levels of the basal food. This helps explain how ruminants are able to tolerate high levels of dust or grit in their diet, with less high-crowned teeth than nonruminants in the same habitat. Palaeo-reconstructions based on dental morphology and dental wear traces need to take the ruminants’ wear-protection mechanism into account. The inadvertent advantage likely contributed to the ruminants’ current success in terms of species diversity.