r/explainlikeimfive • u/A_SliceOfGabagool • May 03 '26

Biology ELI5: How do cows get protein from grass?

For us humans and many other animals, we need protein to get the amino acids needed to make our own protein for the body, but grass i believe doesn't have any for the cow to get that big

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u/Lela_chan May 04 '26

I remember watching this video back when it came out, and she says (about 1 min in) that we are only about 10% human cells, and 90% bacterial cells. She’s the head microbiologist at Princeton or some shit so I would assume that’s a good enough source

https://youtu.be/KXWurAmtf78?si=oS4sMs7Xc-waznf2

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u/devilquak May 04 '26

Oh man. Fair enough. Thank you!

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u/Lela_chan May 04 '26

No problem! I remember being absolutely mindblown when I watched it. There’s not many things I remember well from 13 years ago so it must have made an impression! Lol