Further proving that animals think and feel just like we do, a new study has found that cows produce individual vocal responses to different emotional situations.
According to research published in Scientific Reports, dairy cows use their distinctive “voices” to communicate with each other.
During a five-month period, University of Sydney Ph.D. student Alexandra Green studied a herd of 18 Holstein-Friesian heifers and recorded 333 samples of their moos. After analyzing the different vocalization pitches, she determined that the cows express different emotions, such as distress, arousal, excitement, and engagement, depending on the situation.
“It all relates back to their emotions and what they are feeling at the time,” she explained. “We found that cattle vocal individuality is relatively stable across different emotionally-loaded farming contexts. We hope that through gaining knowledge of these vocalizations, farmers will be able to tune into the emotional state of their cattle, improving animal welfare.”
“Ali’s research is truly inspired,” added Green’s academic supervisor, Associate Professor Cameron Clark. “It is like she is building a Google translate for cows.”
Studies have previously found that female cows communicate with their calves through individual lowing sounds, but this new research demonstrates that this connection continues throughout their lives and also within a herd.
“Cows are gregarious, social animals. In one sense, it isn’t surprising they assert their individual identity throughout their life and not just during mother-calf imprinting,” Green continued. “But this is the first time we have been able to analyze voice to have conclusive evidence of this trait.”
The best sure-fire way to save cows from distress? Leave them off of your plate and choose plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, instead.
I’ll go with the last sentence. Stop eating their flesh and drinking the milk produced for their babies, and you will solve all their problems.
Cows are awesome & don’t deserve to end up on your dinner plate. Please go vegan…it is one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your lifetime.
We need to show love for all animals.
Well, of course they do.
If you ever listen to cows you can hear the difference Especially Distress. Killers of cow’s don’t think they feel or understand. They do I agree Leave them of your plate.
What kind of moos they have when they take their babies away right after birth and when they walk thru the filthy slaughterhouses?
What kind of moos they have when they take their babies away right after birth and when they walk thru the filthy slaughterhouses?
I live next door to a hay field where every spring they take the calves from the mothers. And for a month or more I hear the mothers cry for their babies. Why? They don’t milk the cows so they suffer till their milk dries up. It’s sad because they cry day and night.
Your comment made me cry. So glad I’m vegan.
THIS IS A NO BRAINER. ANIMALS ARE AWESOME AND AMAZING CREATIONS BY GOD. THEIR HEARTS ARE BIGGER THAN MOST HUMANS.
Behandle kuer medå respekt!
Behandle kuer medå respekt!
moche
If this doesn’t prove that cows are smart and sentient beings I don’t know what will. 🐮🐂🐃🐄❤❤❤❤