Post #14958

5 facts about cows: They don’t eat grass, they persecute the weak, mass cloning We are very familiar with cows. We eat their meat all our lives, drink their milk and consider them such an integral and routine part of life that we don’t even think about them. And completely in vain. Now we will tell you 5 facts that prove that cows are much more complex than they seem. And let's start with the hottest of them. Fact One: Cows don't eat grass. Well, yes, they bite it off, chew it and swallow it, this is a fact and it is very stupid to argue with it. But it is not cows who feed on grass, but completely different organisms. After a short journey through the esophagus, the greens enter the first two sections of the stomach - the rumen and the reticulum. And they are simply huge - they occupy 85% of a cow's stomach with a volume of approximately 150 liters. But the main thing about them is not the volume, but the amazingly complex microscopic ecosystem. Hundreds of species of bacteria and fungi tirelessly process the food that gets inside. They, in turn, feed on single-celled animals - amoebas, ciliates and much more unusual creatures. What can I say, they even have their own viruses that you can’t find “on the street”! And all this single-celled diversity gradually breaks down cellulose, turning it into simple nutrients and thereby increasing its biomass. Well, then the excess of this bacterial biomass ends up in the next sections of the gastrointestinal tract, where it is safely digested by the enzymes of the cow itself. It turns out that the cow feeds on microorganisms. The cow actually digests not the grass directly, but the biomass of microorganisms and their waste products (volatile fatty acids). Essentially, the cow has her own personal bacterial bioreactor inside, which she feeds with greens to skim off the cream! Fact two: Cows have been with us for a VERY long time. Unlike cats and dogs, the mystery of whose origin and domestication has not been fully revealed, we figured out the origin of cows surprisingly quickly. They are descendants of wild aurochs that lived somewhere in Egypt or Mesopotamia 11 thousand years ago. And even then they began to be tamed by people. So that you understand, 11 thousand years ago people were still stuck in the Stone Age. Yes, we have already mastered sewing and ceramics production, but that’s where the miracles of human thought ended. There were no ancient empires yet. The first cities are just being born, which by our standards cannot even be called villages. However, shepherds with cows are already walking through the fields around them! Fact three: Cows are strong together! Subconsciously, we do not expect any organization from cows. After all, this is literally a herd that is only suitable for eating grass and reproducing. Moreover, for the last 100-plus centuries they have been doing this under human care. In such conditions, the organization has neither meaning nor benefit. And