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Anita Mayangpuspa posted an update 8 years, 10 months ago
In a study conducted last year, Weary showed that dairy cows possess remarkable emotional sensitivity. The cows he studied were deeply affected by emotional and physical pain of early separation from their mothers and dehorning, which changed the brain in a way that led to a negative cognitive bias akin to pessimism.
Weary and colleagues also found that dairy cows housed in isolation, which is common practice in farming, exhibit anxiety and perform poorly on cognitive tests.
These and other findings raise some ethical questions about how we treat cattle that are raised for dairy and beef, which are often raised in isolation and in inhumane conditions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cows-are-way-smarter-than-you-thought_55b631ede4b0224d8832b382?