Animal Facts
We were playing Animal Facts at work. You know, a shrimp has its heart in its head, elephants are the only quadropods with knees that bend the same way. Animal Facts.
A colleague said that a cow can walk upstairs backwards.
Me: “See, I don’t think that’s right.”
A cow can’t walk downstairs, I explained, because they would fall forwards. They are top-heavy with weak knees, but they can walk upstairs.
Him: “And upstairs backwards. That is a cow fact.”
Me: “I think its wrong. Because if they were walking upstairs backwards, they still be pointing downstairs and they’d topple forwards for the same reason they can’t walk upstairs.”
Him: “But you’re not hearing me. They’re walking upstairs BACKWARDS.”
We got the weekend song tomorrow, trying not to stay attached to these winter blues.
Have a good weekend all. It’s good to be back. Slightly embarrassing that I was gone about two and a half weeks for a break, although I’ve managed to post every day here, but good to be back all the same.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:57 am
It’s reading posts like this that really makes me miss my old job.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:09 am
There’s a part at the end there where we would have gone: “Wendy?! Right. Can a cow…right…?” And your answer would normally settle it.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:27 am
And would normally be the same as yours, probably.
Of course a cow can’t go up stairs backwards! Weeping Jesus.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Lets be honest here, have you ever seen a cow TRY to walk upstairs backwards? Has anyone?
Has someone emailed David Attenborough for a definitive answer? I didn’t think so…
January 18th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Given the right motivation, a cow can indeed walk backwards up stairs. They can’t walk forwards down stairs because of the direction their knees bend, but it is precisely for this same reason that they can walk backwards up stairs. A cow’s leg moves backward and up when lifted, making it difficult to place on a lower step than when it started, but making it much easier to find the next step UP. Any animal that has knees that move like a cow’s will have trouble walking down stairs. Many birds, for example.
It’s not easy to get a cow to walk upstairs backwards though.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Ih, and it is nice to have you back. Don’t get burned out, if you don’t have anything to say, just say so.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Don’t worry Ed, there will be warning signs. Like posts about cows going up stairs.
Only kidding - but I’m with Mr Angry, why doesn’t anyone experiment? I’m going to ask around the university, surely this is what academia is for. I don’t which department would cover it…
January 18th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I’ve referred the matter to my dairy-farming niece. (Don’t try this at home.)
January 18th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I know I’m not a quadruped, but…
… actually, forget I said anything. No, forget it. Seriously.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Is it just me or does anyone else have an image of Katy walking upsairs backwards in their mind’s eye?
January 19th, 2008 at 12:26 am
… guess it’s just me.
January 19th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Guess it’s just you walking upstairs backwards, Ed?
January 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
i’d love to have such colleagues. i would have made him prove the cow upstairs-backwards thing though.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
That too. Wendy, please tell Katy I’m sorry.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot my cousins are dairy farmers. And they have stairs!