Why do cows have such straight backs (parallel to the ground)? Most other animals don’t seem to…
In: Biology
To help them moo-ve.
But looking at their skeletal structure, the spine actually inclines at an angle as you move towards its tail. This is the thoracic curve. However the way its vertebrae align from the spine give the illusion that it is straight and parallel.
It is thought that this gives better center of gravity, alleviating the weight from rear hips, better front shoulder support, and even act as a “cooling mechanism” in hot weather. Think of it like a computer heatsink displacing heat a CPU generates.
Look at images of bovine skeletons and you can see that they have curved spines just as other mammals do. I was not able to find a mammal with a straight spine using my google-fu.
In fact, I could not find any images with a cow who had a straight back.
Short answer is they don’t. Quadrupedal land animals can’t have straight backs due to the suspension on their spines.
It appears straight due to selective breeding for cows with larger chucks, rounds, sirloin, etc. So breeding for more back meat.
They are bred to be that way. If you look at wild cows or buffalo they do not have straight backs but the loin and rib (top of back near haunches) is the most valuable steak. So farmers breed cattle to have long, wide, straight backs. It is easier to cut and process and it produces more meat. Look at the limousin cattle breed compared to the holstein. The first is a special breed of beef cow bred to have long backs. The second is a dairy cow bred to be tall for easy access to udders. Artificial selection drives the selection of certain traits.
Edit: limousine cattle is spelled limousin
We have selectively bred cattle for a long time. We have selected cattle with straight backs.
This is reflected in the way cattle are officially judged. The TL:DR would be “so the animal doesn’t waddle when they walk because this can cause the animal to go lame.”
A better explanation from wikipedia
>>As with the shoulder blades, all joints in the back should be level with the spine, from the shoulder blades to the hip and the pins of the cow. However, some cows’ pins do sit slightly lower than the spine. This is acceptable, but it is undesirable for any of the joints to drop off from the spine too much. If joints are set too low from the spine, this will affect the angle of the spine, as well as the angle of the ribs and pelvis, and may cause the animal to walk with a slight waddle. This is not desirable in a beef cow. This can also cause problems with the legs, which means that the hooves do not wear evenly on the ground. This can cause permanent lameness and other conditions at some point in the animal’s life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_judging
Most four legged animals do have a relatively straight back, but the vast majority of them (cattle included) have a lump on their back where the forelegs and hindlegs join the spine and ribs for support. In humans we call these shoulders and hip bones. In cattle they are called, similarly, the top of shoulder and the hip.
Other animals that are similarly flat back designs are the zebra, fox, donkey, elk, and llama, among others.
Other four legged animals such as the bear, cats, and weasels have bent backs to accommodate their ability to stretch or pounce to get food.
Animals tend to develop downward curves to their backs as they age. Compare a young deer to a 6-7 year old deer. Beef cattle are generally butchered before they are 36 months old and don’t have time to develop that sway back.
A lot of the pictures you see of cows have been “doctored”. In the purebred industries, straighter backs are believed to be more desirable. Long before photoshopping, cows and bulls have been staged to look more desirable. For example, in many purebred publications and advertisements for genetics, hair is combed (and styled with product) and trimmed to show a straight line on the back. Sometimes even yardsticks are taped there and spray painted to match the hair color.
Source: I have personally witnessed this
Ummmm, the cows around me (rural Michigan) do not have straight backs. They all seem to have a low arching bow.
I swear to god I read crows, and not cows. And was so confused when all the comments were about cows, I was like, is this related to the birds that feed off wildebeest and stuff? Lord.
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