It seems like their legs are too thin for the amount of weight that they need to support to stand, let alone run or even jump. How are broken legs not a much more common issue for animals that size when humans that are too tall have to use canes in their 30s?
In: Biology
Their bones are *very* strong. You rarely see beef leg bones in the meat section because there’s not much meat there (relatively), but take a look at “soup bones” if you can find them…the bones are easily 5-10cm across with walls well over a cm thick. Compared to even the strongest human bone, they’re *massive*.
Bone damage due to aging isn’t usually an issue for cows…they don’t die of old age much.
Horses, especially race horses, can and do break their legs and it’s a very bad thing when they do. But they, just like cows, have extremely strong bones (and tendons and ligaments) relative to ours.
The weight is distributed between the four legs, while humans need to support the entire weight on only two legs.
Also, the issue with humans isn’t on the legs, but on the spine. The lower part of the spine needs to stand more weight than it was designed to, keep the torso straight, and keep the center of gravity as close to the ground as possible (that’s why the spine is curved in a S shape). If you are too tall, you’ll have balance problems, and will probably experience back problems as you age, that’s what’s the cane for.
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