Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] (OM) TOPE comment

Subject: Re: [OM] (OM) TOPE comment
From: Paul Wallich <pw@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2002 18:11:17 -0400
Cc: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At 9:47 AM +1200 4/21/02, Brian Swale wrote:


I see Wayne Harridge asked re: "Dairy Farm in Suburbia", "Why do cows
always face in the same direction?" (TOPE Landscape) Probably better to
comment here than beneath the photo.

As far as I know it is a precursor to Social Security before Human Beans
were invented. Sheep do the same.

You will usually find they all face up-wind. I.e. they have the wind in their
face. That's all the better to smell predators coming from that direction. (So
predators know to come from behind if they are to have a better chance for a
successful attack)

If you are part of a group, it's better to stay together. By facing the same
direction, the group does not disperse as it would if they all grazed in random
directions. Moreover, they can maintain eye-contact and also quickly see if
another is alarmed by one thing or another. Thus the herd behaves as a kind
of network organism. There maybe other advantages too, such as all moving
to un-grazed pasture minus fresh cow-pats together. Pre-fences, that is. Old
habits die hard.    FWIW.  Brian

I guess around here the cows have too many generations of predator-free living
behind them. They tend to face in whatever direction they please, maybe little bit aligned with their nearest neighbors but pretty random over a field. Horses tend to align more, since if a predator came they would actually be able to do something about it.

paul   guess I'm going to have to go out and get proof

--
Paul Wallich                                            pw@xxxxxxxxx

< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz