A MOST entertaining video clip has been doing the rounds on the Internet, in which a herd of cows reacts very positively to a Dixieland jazz quintet consisting of the trumpet, trombone, tuba, clarinet and a banjo, of course, playing ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’.
The cows, which were scattered over the field, began to converge on the players as soon as the tuba kicked in until eventually they were standing in a row facing the music (as it were) with their ears pricked.
They didn’t move until the last notes of The Saints had faded away.
It perfectly illustrates the fact that cows are remarkably curious creatures.
Anyone who has read the vet series by James Herriot will know that, and my upbringing on a farm in Devonshire in England (we had dairy cows) taught me that from my very close contact with our cows (I was part of the milking team, among other things).
I remember when I was in Japan many years ago eating the world-famous Kobi beef. These animals are played classical music because it soothes them and encourages their digestion.
On the subject of digestion they are given beer to drink and are massaged with saki (rice wine). Was it a good steak? Oh, yes, although it blew my budget.
It’s not just cows that enjoy classical music either.
A friend of ours reports that years ago when on an archaeological expedition in the northern Kruger National Park, some of her colleagues did an impromptu experiment while on a casual game drive, and confirmed that kudus preferred Strauss while nyalas went for Verdi.
I repeat, it was a very casual and impromptu experiment.
That famous elephant and rhino whisperer, Clive Walker, when he was raising orphaned rhinos on the Lapalala Wilderness in the Waterberg Mountains, used to play them classical music while he scratched their backs with a garden rake (the rhinos were in a boma near the house).
Think about this the next time you are listening to classical music or even Dixieland, depending on your taste.
You may even want to order a beer and get someone to scratch your back with a garden rake.
But let’s go back to the English countryside.
The British red squirrel has been under threat for nearly 150 years, ever since the American grey squirrel was introduced in the UK in the 1850s.
Today, however, it may just be able to bounce back with the help of another threatened native species, the pine marten.
The marten has also been in decline for years, but in Ireland, where it has been protected since the 1970s, it is on the recovery path and co-incidentally the grey squirrel is in decline.
It’s not known if it is direct predation on the grey squirrel, but whatever it is it is working and there are now plans to re-introduce the marten to more areas in England and Wales (it survives in numbers only in Scotland).*
On that positive note, cheers!
*The Week: The Best of the British and Foreign Media.
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