the ruminator

headline: in the future, cow rumens will become microbe factories.

conversation between paramecium and human

h: Check out that headline.
p: Those microbes are slaves. They're drugged by fermentation.
h: The rumen of a cow is about a hundred liters in volume. Inside there may be a half to one million ciliates per milliliter. That means 10 times the world's human population (in microbes).
p: They really pack ‘em in there.
h: Would you consider joining a rumen culture?
p: I've considered it. I prefer swamp.
h: Lakefront property?
p: Rumen dwellers are mostly entodiniomorphids.
h: Don't you feel kinship to your fellow ciliates?
p: You won't catch me living in a rumen house.
h: I hear the food is great.
p: What do you know about bacteria? Humans will eat anything.

ice

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2-11/18