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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. The "Eye-Cow" Project

The "Eye-Cow" Project

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  • G Offline
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    George K
    wrote on 1 Sept 2020, 13:43 last edited by
    #1

    https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/08/study-confirms-that-painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-helps-ward-off-predators/

    Cattle herds in the Okavango delta region in Botswana are plagued by attacks by lions and other predators, prompting farmers to retaliate by killing the predators. An alternative nonlethal technique involves painting eyes on the butts of cattle to trick ambush predators like lions into thinking they've been spotted by their intended prey. It's called the "Eye-Cow Project," and a recent paper published in the journal Communications Biology provides some solid empirical evidence for the practice. There are now practical guides for using the "eye-cow" technique available in both English and Setswana, so farmers can try it out for themselves.

    Neil Jordan, a conservation biologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, came up with the idea several years ago while he was doing field work in Botswana. Local farmers killed a pair of lionesses in retaliation for preying on their herds of cattle, and Jordan wanted to come up with a non-lethal alternative. The African lion population has dropped significantly from more than 100,000 in the 1990s to somewhere between 23,000 and 39,000 in 2016—much of it due to retaliation killings.

    Jordan knew that butterfly wings sporting eye-like patterns are known to ward off preying birds and are also found in certain fish, mollusks, amphibians and birds, although such patterns had not been observed in mammals. He also discovered that woodcutters in Indian forests have been known to wear masks on the backs of their heads to discourage any tigers hunting for prey. He had observed a lion stalking an impala and noticed the predator gave up the chase when the prey spotted it. Lions are ambush hunters, Jordan reasoned, and he decided to test his "detection hypothesis" that painting eyes on the butts of cows would discourage predatory behavior from the local lion population.

    alt text

    "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

    The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

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    • M Offline
      M Offline
      Mik
      wrote on 1 Sept 2020, 14:36 last edited by
      #2

      Hope it works. But then lions have to eat too.

      "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

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      • T Offline
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        taiwan_girl
        wrote on 1 Sept 2020, 14:48 last edited by
        #3

        I am with Mik. I hope it works. A low tech low cost "win win" type of solution.

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        • A Away
          A Away
          Axtremus
          wrote on 1 Sept 2020, 15:00 last edited by
          #4

          Will the fake eyes confuse the other cows and bulls too?

          M 1 Reply Last reply 1 Sept 2020, 15:13
          • A Axtremus
            1 Sept 2020, 15:00

            Will the fake eyes confuse the other cows and bulls too?

            M Offline
            M Offline
            Mik
            wrote on 1 Sept 2020, 15:13 last edited by
            #5

            @Axtremus said in The "Eye-Cow" Project:

            Will the fake eyes confuse the other cows and bulls too?

            Dammit! I can't do it while she's watching!"

            "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

            G 1 Reply Last reply 1 Sept 2020, 15:28
            • M Mik
              1 Sept 2020, 15:13

              @Axtremus said in The "Eye-Cow" Project:

              Will the fake eyes confuse the other cows and bulls too?

              Dammit! I can't do it while she's watching!"

              G Offline
              G Offline
              George K
              wrote on 1 Sept 2020, 15:28 last edited by
              #6

              @Mik said in The "Eye-Cow" Project:

              @Axtremus said in The "Eye-Cow" Project:

              Will the fake eyes confuse the other cows and bulls too?

              Dammit! I can't do it while she's watching!"

              Jerry Falwell's pool boy never said that...

              "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

              The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

              1 Reply Last reply
              • M Offline
                M Offline
                Mik
                wrote on 1 Sept 2020, 19:14 last edited by
                #7

                I guess Jerry never painted eyes on her ass.

                "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

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