Why can cows go up stairs but not down them?
In: Biology
I raised cattle, and although they don’t like it, they absolutely can go down stairs. They excel at going down backwards.
Same reason why puppies don’t like going down stairs, powerful back legs mean they can drive upwards and forwards to climb stairs, but the legs aren’t very good at the front in supporting the majority of the weight of the animal and can possibly tip over forwards possibly injuring the animal and they know it.
Going up the stairs involves moving your center of gravity forward and against gravity, so a misstep will generally just put the cow back in its starting position. Going down has the cow putting all its significant weight forward, towards a small step as a target, where missing will result in serious injury.
Cows learn about gravity much the same way as any other animal- as a smaller juvenile with less risk of injury if and when they fall. By the time they’re full grown and have been led up stairs, they’re much less willing to risk coming back down.
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