From: Barbara Lamar (barbaralamar@sanmarcos.net)
Date: Wed Feb 06 2002 - 09:18:52 MST
Steve wrote:
> Believe it or not, a recently published scientific
> paper argues that cows are actually smarter than we think. Apparently they
> can recognise faces, distinguish between different humans ...
Individualism vs. herdism. Acting as a member of a herd, an individual cow
might seem to have no mind of her own, might blindly follow the rest of the
mob (sortta like humans). But when acting apart from the herd, an individual
cow seems at least as smart as a horse. I once raised a Beefmaster/Jersey
mix calf on a bottle. She would come running from far across a pasture when
she saw me coming; but she'd shy away from strangers. She knew her name, of
course, and could understand simple commands. When she grew up, I sold her
to my neighbor and she went to live among his herd of cows. But she would
often leave the herd and come back to my house to visit me (I lived on the
adjacent land). When she got sick, she came back to her original home to
die.
The Texas Longhorn seems to be an especially smart breed. These cattle are
able to survive under extremely harsh conditions, mainly because of their
intelligence and ability to modify their habits when necessary. I say this
based on personal observation and from reading accounts of men (cowboys,
actually) who worked the cattle when they were a popular breed for beef in
the 1800's.
Barbara
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