22 Things You Didn't Know About Cows

With those big dreamy eyes, galumphing gate, and generally languid demeanor, cows don't get credit for much beyond providing the milk and meat that much of the world relies on. But in truth, there's a lot more to cattle than just a bunch of Bessies sitting around chewing their cud. They are intelligent, highly social animals and are even honored as sacred creatures in some parts of the world.

Here are 22 facts about cows that will help you see these gentle giants in a new light.

Cows Originated in Turkey

Domestic cows, also known as taurine cows, are descendants of wild oxen known as aurochs, and they were first domesticated in southeast Turkey around 10,500 years ago. A second subspecies, sometimes called zebu cattle, were later domesticated in a separate event around 7,000 years in India. While the wild aurochs went extinct in 1627 due to overhunting and habitat loss, their genetics live on in a number of descendants, including water buffalo, wild yaks, and of course, domestic cows.

We Share a Lot of Genes

When scientists mapped out the bovine genome in 2009, they discovered that cattle have about 22,000 genes; 80 percent of their genes are shared with humans.

Cows Indicate Wealth

The word "cattle" comes from the Old French "chatel," as in chattel, meaning property. In many parts of the world, cattle remain an indicator of economic wealth.

Cow Versus Cattle

Female cattle are called cows; male cattle are called bulls. Generally, in English, we have a single word that we can use to refer to both the male or female of a species—like cat or dog. But cows are unique in that we don't have a singular noun that refers equally to an adult cow or a bull; we just have cattle, which is plural. In colloquial usage, cattle are often referred to as cows, like in some of the references here.

They Love to Laze

Cows spend 10 to 12 hours a day lying down, but most of that is well-earned relaxation time, not sleep.

They Sleep on the Ground

In fact, an average cow will only sleep about four hours a day, usually in short increments throughout the day. Sleep studies have also shown that, like in humans, lack of sleep can affect a cow's health, productivity, and behavior.

Cows Like to Play

Cows engage in all forms of play found in mammals, including playing with things such as balls, gamboling, and running, and also social play with members of other species.

Cow Tipping is Probably Not a Real Thing

Many people swear by their stories of tipping over cows in the middle of the night, but experts assert that these storytellers are bending the truth, not tipping cows. In 2005, University of British Columbia researchers concluded that tipping a cow would require an exertion of 2,910 newtons of force, meaning it would take more than human strength to actually push over a cow. If you still need more evidence, consider what the experts do when they need to get a cow on its side—use a table.

Cows Are Gassy

When cows digest food, fermentation results in a large amount of methane; cattle produce 250 to 500 liters of the gas per day, and it's a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Livestock is responsible for 14.5 percent of all emissions, and beef and dairy cattle outpace all other livestock as methane emitters. Since the majority of the 1.4 billion cows on the planet are raised as livestock, reducing our consumption of meat and dairy products has been proven as an effective way to combat global climate change.

Cows Like Petting

Just like dogs, cows enjoy a good rubdown, whether on the head, neck, or back, as seen in this video of a cow using a "Happycow" machine.

Milk Requires a Lot of Squirts

There are about 350 udder squirts in a gallon of milk.

Respect Increases Lactation

Researchers have found that if you name a cow and treat her as an individual, she will produce almost 500 more pints of milk a year..

Cows Have Uncanny Directional Ability

A study by University of Duisburg-Essen researchers in Germany found that cows tend to face either magnetic north or south when grazing or resting, regardless of the sun's position or the wind's direction. The study's author says that magnetic compass orientation has been relatively under-studied in mammals; why cows use it remains a mystery.

They Have a Great Range of Vision

Cattle have almost 330 degrees of vision, with blind spots only right in front of and behind them.

Cows Have Best Friends

Cows have favorite friends and become stressed when they are separated. In a study measuring isolation, heart rates, and cortisol levels, researcher Krista McLennan concluded, "When heifers have their preferred partner with them, their stress levels in terms of their heart rates are reduced compared with if they were with a random individual."

Cows Are Good Swimmers

Three cows made headlines when they were discovered on Cape Lookout National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Several cows had been swept out to sea by Hurricane Dorian months earlier, and it's believed they swam about 4 or 5 miles to find safety at Cape Lookout. The cows had been living on Cedar Island when the hurricane generated a "mini tsunami," sweeping much of the wildlife off the island, reports The Herald-Sun of Durham, North Carolina.

The video below from the National Trust offers visual proof and some additional background that won't be news to a farmer, but that landlubbers may find surprising. The cows on this estate in Northern Ireland take a 100-meter swim every summer across Lough Erne. They are rewarded on the other side by 40 acres of fresh pasture on the island, where their grazing keeps the scrub at bay.

Cows Can't See Red

The old adage that bulls charge when they see the color red is simply not true. The color doesn't make them angry; in fact, cows are colorblind by human standards and don't even have a retina receptor that can process red hues. To a raging bull, a bright red cape just looks like a dull yellowish gray. When a matador convinces a bull to charge, it is likely the movement of the waving flag or cape that elicits the response, not the color.

Cows Can Have Regional Accents

After a group of dairy farmers noticed their cows had different moos, language specialists determined that "In small populations such as herds you would encounter identifiable dialectical variations which are most affected by the immediate peer group."

Cows Have Great Noses

Cows have an excellent sense of smell and can detect odors up to six miles away.

They Have One Stomach, With Four Compartments

While it's often said that cows have four stomachs, that's not technically true. Cows have one very big stomach with four distinct compartments, each serving a different function. This complex digestive system allows the cow to better process the 35 to 50 pounds of grass and hay they consume daily. In the second part of the stomach, called the reticulum, cows produce cud, a taffy-like substance that cows will burp up and continue chewing to finish their meal.

In Some Places, Cows Are Sacred

The animal is considered a sacred symbol of life, and cows in Hindu-majority cultures often roam the streets freely and take part in holiday traditions. In some cases, there are laws to protect cows from harm. The strictest of these are found in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where punishments for killing a cow include seven years of prison time, and politicians have formed a "Cow Cabinet" to ensure the welfare of the animal.

Some Cows Are Worth Their Weight in Gold

In 2023, a white cow became the most expensive cow in the world when one-third of its ownership sold for 6.99 million reals—the equivalent of $1.44 million—at an auction held in Arandú, Brazil.

The 4-and-a-half-year-old Nelore breed named Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis was sold by Agropecuária Casa Branca to Nelore HRO, making its total value $4.3 million.