Why Are Researchers Painting Eyes On Cow's Butts?
lol..I know, I know..this sounds like a segment of You can't make this stuff up! but this is actually some serious business.
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
Researchers are experimenting with the tactic of painting eyes on cows butts because they think it may result in less cow deaths. BUT, the reason they are doing this is not to protect the cows but to save the lions!
It does look kinda like eyes don't it?
That's because when lions attack cow herds the farmers shoot the lions. But this action to protect the cows has had a devastating effect on the lion population. Some say even more lions are killed by farmers than poachers!
Biologist Neil Jordan at the University of New South Wales in Australia was on a hunt in Botswana, Africa when he noticed that a lion was stalking an Impala.
But when the Impala noticed the lion and looked up at him the lion stopped and retreated.
That gave Jordan the idea of painting eyes on cow's butts to trick the lions into thinking they were seen and being watched. In Botswana they took a herd of 62 cattle and painted eyes on the rear-ends of one third of them.
They counted the cows coming in at the end of each day and after 10 weeks 3 cows had been killed by lions but none of them were from the painted butts group.
Promising results
So this may work. He's getting ready to do a larger, longer study this summer.
If it works then everyone will be painting those eyes and a new business will be born. lol. The most realistic eyes will work the best I'm sure.
See here, here's a couple of cow butt eye artists ready to do their thing:
This one looks pretty good:
My question is..is this just interfering with nature and the natural order of things? I know farmers don't want to lose cattle but the lions need to eat too.
And a loss of 3 head of cattle out of 62 head in 10 months doesn't sound bad if it sustains the lion population. What do you guys think?
If the eyes scare the lions away, what other animals are they going to go after? They gotta eat.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
PS- Ok, from cattle butts to beautiful hair, did you guys see this lady from Ukraine, Alena Kravchenko, who hasn't cut her hair in 30 years?
Yeah, she's been growing it out since she was 5 years old and she's 34 now.
She didn't really give a reason, she just said she loves her hair.
It's kinda cool but I don't even know how she washes it, is that a 2 person job? lol.
It has nothing to do with anything but I just thought it was interesting, she has to have strong neck muscles!
It wouldn't be worth the hassle for me but if that is her claim to fame and she wants to show it off...then more power to her. People are fascintating creatures.
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I wonder how many generations it would take for the cows to then naturally have eyes on their butts as part of their coat... Could be one of the better human interventions.
Haha! Very interesting question sir penderis! It would be one of our better interventions for sure!
I think the cost of painting eyes on all 62 cow butts to save 3 a year from being eaten by the lions will far exceed the amount of money those three cows would have bought in if they were sold. But even in a money losing proposition, the farmers can say at least the lions did not eat them, the only thing that got eaten was my profit margin because of the cost of paint and reapplying the paint every so often, so now I need to raise the price of my cow meat, to offset the loses.
Howdy sir bashadow! That's a brilliant analysis and sounds accurate. The cow butt painters will develop long lasting techniques so they don't have to repaint them every week!
Eyes on the butts of cows...wonder why it took so long to figure that out!
Haha! Howdy sir simms50! Yes it seems like such a simple idea. It will be interesting to see if it really is as effective as they think it might be.
I can't just figure out what exactly is happening. Kudos to researchers but the kings are gotta eat too as the author had said. What if the lions eventually attack a cattle and they eventually finds out its nothing but to scare them away, lol.....animal will never think that way
Howdy sir crownbee! I agree...the lions will eventually figure out that the eyes are fake. And you probably know about lions because of your home country. Thanks so much for commenting!
Real life Rapunzel huh? Maybe I should go rescue her 😜
Haha! Exactly. Yes I think she might like that sir enginewitty!
Wow! Eyes, on cow butts... I guess there is really is not limit to ingenuity.
That actually makes a lot of sense. Large felines are usually stalkers and if they are seen, they may feel threatened.
Very cool and non-lethal way of deterring attacks.
Howdy sir deepwaters! I agree. It's an amazingly simple idea and I hope I can find out if it is as successful as they hope when they do more testing this summer.
lol, thought it might be to give the bull a different perspective :)
lol.. that's a good one sir michealb, thanks for that!
Imagine talking to the high school guidance councillor...
Student: I'm seeking direction on what subjects I need to be able to pursue my chosen career.
Councillor: Ah ok, I can help there young man. And what career have you decided upon?
Student: Cow-butt eye-painter sir.
Councillor: WTF!
lol! That's hilarious sir galenkp! And it could become a niche specialty. The article is about a guy in Australia, do you have lions there?
Not naturally occurring ones no. In zoos yes.
If the cows are a vital food source I imagine losing one is one to many. It is a rather creative idea though, if it pans out they should go for it.
The lady may not have cut her hair in thirty years but there's no hair on her head that's thirty years old. The hair on people's bodies continually sheds and replaces itself in cycles. Like every four to six months your eyebrows and eyelashes are all brand new, your body hair anywhere from two to four years and the hair on top of your head can grow eight to ten years. Your hair grows and average of one half inch a month, this can accelerate during the summer months, it's speculated that during the summer months when the top of your head is exposed to more sunlight you get an increase of blood flow to the head to protect your skin from sun burn, blood helps nourish and grow hair. That's why if a woman plucks hairs from her face over the the years the hair grows thicker. We don't think of it as an injury to the skin but the skin does and blood rushes there to try and heal it, that's why the skin turns red, the increase of blood flow provides more nourishment to the hair. The same is said when men shave, it's the constant friction upon the skin that stimulates blood to the surface, hence over the years the hairs thicken. If you ran your finger repeatedly across your skin it eventually will turn red as you are irritating the skin and, once again, the blood goes there to try and heal the irritation. So at one half inch an year or more over a period of ten years your hair can be over five feet long. If you look closely at her braid you can actually see the growth cycles in progress in terms of years as you see the ends sticking out of her braid. People can have thousands of hair follicles to a square inch on their body, each follicle set to grow hair at different stages known as anagen, catagen and telegen. In the anagen stage hair is actively growing, in the catagen stage it is in it's midlife and the telegen stage is the shedding stage. The telegen stage is the stage we find are the one's we often end up pulling out of the bathtub drain. If you look at a ladies hairbrush you will find most don't have a bulb at the end, those are telegen shedding stage, if you pull some hairs off your head and they have a full light bulb shaped bulb on the end that is the actively growing stage of anagen, in the catagen stage that bulb would look withered.
Now you are schooled in hair growth and have a prime picture to see all the stages.
Wow very interesting information sunlit7! Now I am much more educated for sure because I had no idea of most of this. lol.
Hi janton, so hard to keep the balance of nature going. I agree the lions do need to eat so a food source needs to be provided if farmers are not prepared to feed them cows. The faces are a very creative out of the box idea though.
Maybe the young lady from Ukraine could play the role of 'Rapunsel" in the next movie block buster, lol.
Howdy today angiemitchell! Hey the article I read was about a researcher in Australia, do they have lions there?
Hi, @janton!
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Howdy steem-plus and thank you so much for the upvote!
Wow for the hair and the eyes are actually a great idea.
Wow for the hair and
The eyes are actually
A great idea.
- anneke
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
Howdy today anneke! Yes, I don't know how often you see cattle but if you start seeing eyes painted on them you'll know why! Are you in the city or the country?
I live in the city - would rather live on a farm or in the bush or by the see. City is always such a rush - I grew up in Cape Town - one of the best cities in our country - but now lives in Gauteng. Mines and buildings....
Howdy again anneke! "Mines and buildings?" There are mines in your city?
On the outskirts of the city there is one or two but most of our coal mines are in another province about 2 hours from us and we also have many gold and diamond mines over the country - SA is very rich in metals , but alas we are getting poorer..... well except for the few fat cats at the top
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mines_in_South_Africa
If the politicians don't get smart instead of greedy China will own all the mines.
China is slowly taking over the whole of SA - our government will still think they have something then it is gone - I hate politics - such a lot of scheming and lying and stealing . No compassion for others
Very true. Yes the methods that China are using is sickening but the governments should know better. China is very dangerous but you already know that. I hate politics too, it seems to attract the scummiest people.
Interesting idea - painting eyes on the cows buttocks. An excellent idea if it works. 😊
Howdy again sir Vincent! I think so too, such a simple idea but if it works then they'll need cow butt eye artists to do that, I don't suppose you'd be interested? lol.
Nah, too far for me to travel. You can have the job. 😊
But I'm not an artist like you sir Vincent, I don't think my eyes would scare anything away!
You will have to work at it won't you? 😊
Well I'd probably give up on it before I got good seeins how I have no natural talent!
Loves Her Hair.....? Did You SEE THAT BUTT....?!?!
The Cow ButtS SillY Jonboy @janton
Do You think I am Krazzy...? @pooky-jax reads these.... LMAO
lol..howdy sir krazzytrukker! What's your posting status, have you been posting? Has pooky-jax been posting? What is your work status, are you drivin?
My Status is "CURIOUS....."
Curious to if You work for Google....?
They like to track my status also.....lmao
Current "STATUS". --->"SLACKER"
At tractor supply buying hydraulic hose I blew while trying not to be a "Slacker"
No Load. Found backup load. Gotta wait till Monday for said backup load.....
Status Updated...... Thanks for asking Jonboy.... Watcha dooin...?
Howdy Cowboy! Butt eyes! What next will they come up with. 😂
I don’t think I could deal with all that hair but kudos to the lady if she can manage it.
Is that how long hair grows in 29 yrs?
Howdy again redheadpei! Isn't that something? Those eyes. Such a simple idea.
Someone wrote a big dissertation in the comments about how hair grows and they said that would be about 9 or 10 years worth because it would fall out by that time but be replaced. In other words that should be about the maximum length that you could get.
You see sir janton us Aussies ain't just plonk heads what a brilliant simply idea i guess you will have to go out and feed the lions now 😀 😀
And i love that long hair i would ride her like a cow 🤣 👀 🤣
lol..oh man! Well that's a good point about the lions, if this works someone better figure out how to feed them!
Forget about feeding the lions i will be feeding that long hair queen with T-Bone everyday 3 times a day ...lol 😀
lol...you're incorrigible sir hangin!
Hehe...you got that right sir janton 🤣 🤣
I like it when I'm right sir hangin. Only happens a couple times a year!
Haha...true on that and you will see why..below 😀 🤣 😀
lol..that is a universal truth right there for sure sir hangin, good one!
And we can't argue with that...lol 🤣 🤣 🤣