Abdomen

Animals that chew cud are called "ruminants" and include cattle, buffalo, yaks, sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas. One of their "stomachs" is called the "rumen.” Place your ear against the left flank of a gentle, healthy ruminant and hear the rumen rumble one to three times per minute to mix food. Rumen movement is a sign of health and absence of it is a sign of illness. In a "non-ruminant" animal, such as a horse, put your ear close to either flank (if it is tame enough) to hear gurgling sounds of the intestines. A healthy animal at rest has constant sounds like this.