Comments on: Animal Facts

By: Cliff

Cliff — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:06:28 +0000

Oh yeah, I forgot my cousins are dairy farmers. And they have stairs!

By: Ed R

Ed R — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:21:28 +0000

That too. Wendy, please tell Katy I’m sorry.

By: Aimee

Aimee — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:39:06 +0000

i’d love to have such colleagues. i would have made him prove the cow upstairs-backwards thing though.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:38:09 +0000

Guess it’s just you walking upstairs backwards, Ed?

By: Ed R

Ed R — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:26:44 +0000

… guess it’s just me.

By: ed r

ed r — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:36:58 +0000

Is it just me or does anyone else have an image of Katy walking upsairs backwards in their mind’s eye?

By: Katy Newton

Katy Newton — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:29:37 +0000

I know I’m not a quadruped, but…

… actually, forget I said anything. No, forget it. Seriously.

By: ted

ted — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:31:48 +0000

I’ve referred the matter to my dairy-farming niece. (Don’t try this at home.)

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:11:52 +0000

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…

By: ed r

ed r — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:46:55 +0000

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.

By: ed r

ed r — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:36:52 +0000

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.

By: Mr Angry

Mr Angry — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:40:10 +0000

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…

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:27:36 +0000

And would normally be the same as yours, probably.

Of course a cow can’t go up stairs backwards! Weeping Jesus.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:09:21 +0000

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.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:57:04 +0000

It’s reading posts like this that really makes me miss my old job.