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Asked by danrumford to Cat, Daz, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 16 Jun 2011.
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Pamela Lithgow answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Hi Dan,
Apparently they can! (see you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfyPOzB7pB8)
But the thing is they don’t like doing it. This is because of where their eyes are on their head, they can’t see very well down the stairs so they don’t want to go there.
Hope that helps
Pam 🙂
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Cat O'Connor answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Hi Dan,
Great question. My friend told me to tell you it’s because cows can’t get planning permission for two storey houses…..now, I thought I was silly!
Again, Pam has given you as much of an answer as you need. But I have to tell you about this amazing book my a woman called Temple Grandin. She is an animal behaviourist but is also autistic…or at least suffers from some disorder on the autism spectrum. Anyway, she revolutionised how cattle slaughterhouses are designed because she saw the world just the same way as animals do, which is very different from how you and I see things. The reason I’m telling you about this is that she determined that cattle hated stairs or any sort of steps that had to jump off. From then, lots of people changed the ways they designed cattle pens or dips so that they never encountered steps and only walked up or down gradients.
Anyway, a useless piece of information but if you are interested, her most famous book is called “Animals in translation: the woman who thinks like a cow” and I would say read it if you’ve any interest in animals and how and why they behave the way they do!
Cat
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