Ruth Hagglof, age 11, of Colorado Springs, Colo., for her question:

IS A DEER'S STOMACH LIKE A COW'S?

Deers join cows, along with sheep, goats, giraffes, antelopes and llamas, in a special and odd way of digesting food. They are all ruminant animals, a name given to those which graze and chew cuds.

Deers, and other ruminants, eat grass, leaves, bark and tender sprouts of trees and other plants. They do not chew their food well before swallowing it. A deer's stomach has four sections, One section acts as a storage place for the poorly chewed food. Food stored here is later returned to the mouth in a ball like glob. The deer then chews this food, called cud. After the chewed food has been swallowed, it goes to other parts of the stomach.

Deer also have been known to eat fruit, mushrooms and other types of fungi and water plants.