How are cows not like humans?
youtu.be/9Z2iWEC2dIw Just look at how we have social orders & hierarchy! :shock: do you think people repeatedly underestimate the similarities between us & other social animals? Do you think many if not most of our behaviors- like standards of politeness & need for equity stem from us being a social species? Why are people blind to the similarities between us and animals and believe we are somehow made in the image of some deity? What behaviors do you think would be different if we were a solitary species? Do you think most of our domesticated animals are social because we understand their behaviors better? Do you think us head butting with words instead of horns is the same thing? Thus making the physical differences between us & cows irrelevant in terms of our social behavior? Does this apply the same with dolphins in that different environments & body-plans have no impact upon intelligence and socially complex lives? Questions? Thoughts? Anyone?
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I think this and that video belong in my "what you use to get off to sleep thread".
I can't believe you kept this thread bumped for five months.
I can't believe you kept this thread bumped for five months.
Let's be fair...there is a lot of competition to stay near the top of the list and get answers so an occasional bump is ok, but using my 6 week old comments seems to be setting a pattern.
Underestimating the intelligence of animals just doesn't happen today largely thanks to YouTube. Your other points I hope I can answer without boring everyone to tears. As someone who studied free range cattle I'll try (not to bore) ...
1. They probably have a similar intelligence range, or bell curve to humans. You've heard how the smartest apes can be smarter than kids or dumb humans. Same is true for cattle, and I've found that the most intelligent cows get on well with humans. Because they have less the master/servant (fear) relationship and more an "understanding" one.
2. If you try to study and assess their social hierachy based on the control systems imposed by humans, you'll get it wrong. But if they are allowed a semi free range system where families are kept intact in the same way that apes in captivity are then their behaviours will be fairly similar. (eg: In rules for grooming and rank).
3. Unlike humans who can jump in a car and drive away from conflict, cows (even in free range) have to live in, eat in and sleep in their own company in confined spaces for their whole lives so in that respect they are probably better socially adjusted than humans.
4. They do have a hierachical structure when families are kept together, their behaviour is regimented by rules, and offenders learn to conform. The conforming behaviour, however when not modifed by humans is not all harmony. The law of the jungle still applies and uncastrated emerging bulls will be harassing cows at every opportunity, while co-operating equals on one level and competing on another. (Sounds like human males, true).
5. A story I might have told before about an intelligent cow...
Parrots used to arrive on the farm regularly on a summer afternoon and attack the pear trees, they'd make a lot of noise and take one bite out of the pears knocking them to the ground. There was this one cow that knew the sound of the parrots was the message there would be fresh fruit on the ground. She would listen for the sound of the parrots from more than half a kilometre away, and stroll over to get the fresh fruit.
Point being there is a 3 step relationship here between the cow wanting and getting sole access to the fruit to the exclusion of about 200 other cattle in the paddock. The "use" of the parrots by the cow could be considered as using a tool. Similar to a 3 step process observed in crows...animals which have been judged to have the intelligence of 5 to 7 year old children.
...This is not a case for the cow as equal in intelligence to the most intelligent animals like chimps and crows, but just making a point that many animals may have extraordinary intelligence but not have the physical attributes to display that intelligence. As found with dolfins (or what ever other odd "shaped" animal) you have to observe them on their terms and see how they make use of their physical limitations.
Which is more intelligent... grabbing a stick and knocking fruit out of a tree or getting another animal to do it for you?
1. They probably have a similar intelligence range, or bell curve to humans. You've heard how the smartest apes can be smarter than kids or dumb humans. Same is true for cattle, and I've found that the most intelligent cows get on well with humans. Because they have less the master/servant (fear) relationship and more an "understanding" one.
2. If you try to study and assess their social hierachy based on the control systems imposed by humans, you'll get it wrong. But if they are allowed a semi free range system where families are kept intact in the same way that apes in captivity are then their behaviours will be fairly similar. (eg: In rules for grooming and rank).
3. Unlike humans who can jump in a car and drive away from conflict, cows (even in free range) have to live in, eat in and sleep in their own company in confined spaces for their whole lives so in that respect they are probably better socially adjusted than humans.
4. They do have a hierachical structure when families are kept together, their behaviour is regimented by rules, and offenders learn to conform. The conforming behaviour, however when not modifed by humans is not all harmony. The law of the jungle still applies and uncastrated emerging bulls will be harassing cows at every opportunity, while co-operating equals on one level and competing on another. (Sounds like human males, true).
5. A story I might have told before about an intelligent cow...
Parrots used to arrive on the farm regularly on a summer afternoon and attack the pear trees, they'd make a lot of noise and take one bite out of the pears knocking them to the ground. There was this one cow that knew the sound of the parrots was the message there would be fresh fruit on the ground. She would listen for the sound of the parrots from more than half a kilometre away, and stroll over to get the fresh fruit.
Point being there is a 3 step relationship here between the cow wanting and getting sole access to the fruit to the exclusion of about 200 other cattle in the paddock. The "use" of the parrots by the cow could be considered as using a tool. Similar to a 3 step process observed in crows...animals which have been judged to have the intelligence of 5 to 7 year old children.
...This is not a case for the cow as equal in intelligence to the most intelligent animals like chimps and crows, but just making a point that many animals may have extraordinary intelligence but not have the physical attributes to display that intelligence. As found with dolfins (or what ever other odd "shaped" animal) you have to observe them on their terms and see how they make use of their physical limitations.
Which is more intelligent... grabbing a stick and knocking fruit out of a tree or getting another animal to do it for you?
I concur with your entire second paragraph
cows are probably smarter
They just don't show 
yes that's how smart they are lol
If I were them, I would use the smarts to plot and take over the world 🤣🤣🤣
And the DA forum
Well we can eat them and they can eat us, so it's fair game but we humans like to cheat.
But cows are herbivores
Well they can kill us so they probably take a nibble afterwards just for kicks.
Cows have been bred though to not be that aggressive
Perhaps, but there's always an animal that loses their temper every now and then.
Unlikely to be fatal though
That's exactly what the cows want you to think 
I don’t think it’s in their nature to be evil against other mammals, though they admittedly fight amongst themselves
Because they both get abducted by aliens? I have an alien cow abduction toy I got for Christmas, only problem is I already broke the alien off which was the trigger for the button to turn it on, lost the plastic cockpit that goes over said alien button, and the damn tiny plastic cow won’t stand up enough to properly get the magnet to “abduct” the cow. It also came with a fun little storybook and I also got a stuffed alien with light up eyes (and also a baby Yoda mask my mom made, pillow pet, and long sleeved t shirt).
When I grow up, I'm going to Bovine University.
no. cows are nothing like humans. they're just lazy and stupid.
...and tasty!
Meh- I only like beef in a type of sandwich and in spaghetti
I agree.
And so are most of us