norsesuggestions:

norsesuggestions:

[a calf of the swedish traditional cattle breed, fjällnära ko, called swedish mountain cattle in english]

so, cows attacking wolves, and similiar natural predators to cows, is in my understanding standard cow behavour

(they will run towards wolves as a herd, and try to stampede the wolves to get away with this threat to their calves. it is a cow instinct)

but i just thought this way of describing this cattle instinct by the museum skansen was funny

skansen about the fjällnära ko

translation: the swedish mountain cattle är friendly animals. but, they can become terrible outraged in one particular situation: when they are defending themselves against wolves and other predators. while other herbivores, like moose and horses, flee when they feel the smell of a wolf or bear, cows will charged towards the predators, while emitting a terrible loud moo.

watch out for the cows, predators of the swedish forest!

[about the swedish mountain cattle]

fjällnära ko is a traditional cow breed from north sweden. they were developed through the ages to be able to survive outside in the cold subartic/near subarctic climare of norrland.

the breed was also traditionally herded as a free range cows, which were moved between winter and summer grazing lands. they were looked after, particulary in the summer, by a female exclusive proffesion of cow herders, fäbodjänta. this traditonal way of raising cows are in swedish called “fäboddrift”.

i educated guess, to why skansen points out them having a good instinct for defending themselves against predators, is that these cows would historically graze freely in forests, were they were. well wolves and bears. being a cow who was good defending themselves against these predators, would therefore be a very very good trait to well. make your entire cow herding thing, keep surviving. therefore, selecting cows with good “stampede wolves” genes would be very beneficial, i am assume.

the second reason they mention it, is i highly suspect, is that not all cows are good at seperating wolves from dogs. or rather, they considering dogs wolves, and treat them as such. a warning about that, can therefore be good to have for a musuem 😛

look out wolves, for the adorble, smoll, and hornless fjällnära ko!

sources

http://www.boskap.nu/fjallnara_linjer.html

http://www.skansen.se/sv/fj%C3%A4lln%C3%A4ra-ko-1

the size of an adult fjällnära ko

fjällnära ko grazing in the sort of enviroment they would historically graze in

cute! fjällnära ko adult and calf!

all pictures from this fjällnära ko farmer:

http://www.furulundsgard.com/sv/om-fjallnara-kor