Watch Brave Men Come Together to Save a Drowning Cow From a Muddy Watering Hole

This Indonesian cow was very lucky that a couple of passersby noticed her predicament. She had stumbled into a deep and muddy watering hole that had no easy exit! The water was deep and the sides were very steep and unstable. Whenever she tried to make her way out, she slipped and fell back in.

It looks as if the poor animal has been in the water for some time because she is already weak and exhausted. The ingenious helpers create a ramp from leaves which gives her enough traction to be able to haul herself out. The story has a happy ending!

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When Were Cows First Domesticated?

Research has shown that all the farm cattle we see today are descended from around 80 animals that were domesticated in the Near East region around 10,500 years ago. They were bred from auroch which were undomesticated bovines that lived in regions now covered by Turkey and Pakistan. Cows have been used ever since for milk production, meat and leather production, and for moving agricultural implements. The correct term for these animals is cattle and the scientific name is Bos taurus. There are also two subspecies of domestic cow which are the indicus and the taurus.

What Do We Know About Domestic Cows?

Domestic cows are found all over the world except for in Antarctica. Domestic cattle have a lifespan of around 25 years but many are slaughtered at a much younger age to provide meat. They can weigh anything from 700 pounds to 1750 pounds and can be up to 6 feet tall.

What Do Domestic Cows Normally Look Like?

Cows can be a wide range of colors, sizes, and shapes. They all have hooved feet and most have a thin layer of course hair. Some cows, however, have a longer coat. For example, the Highland cow has a long, shaggy brownish-red coat. Perhaps the best known breed of domestic cow is the Holstein which has irregular black and white shapes with a stripe of white between the eyes. Most cows have horns but these vary in length and shape between the breeds.

Indicus cows can be identified from their hump. This is a protrusion on the neck which makes it easy to distinguish them from taurus cows. The cow in this clip has such a hump and is therefore an indicus cow.