Cow tipping (The pastime, not the way of thanking the cow for his prompt and courteous service) has always been something you heard that a friend of a friend did once to his udder amusement, though you’ve never seen it done yourself. Sometimes the story even includes the fact that the cow is unable to get up and can even die from such a maneuver. Animal lovers everywhere can now breathe a sigh of relief though, as it appears this sport of sorts has been officially debunked into the realm of urban legend. The legend has two origins, one being that cows lean into the wind when they sleep, and thus, a cow tipper just pushes in the direction of the wind while the cow pushes back against the force of what it thinks is the wind, and then at just the right moment the tippers jump out of the way and the cow falls under its own weight. The second method involves the use of brute force to simply push the animal over before it awakens. Contrary to the myth though, many cows lie down when sleeping, and most are easily awoken due to their prey like reflexes. Even if a cow were to be tipped over though, there is nothing that would prevent them from simply standing back up, contrary to the popular death scenario. Besides the fact that a cow would simply need to wake up to prevent an unplanned horizontal slumber, a zoologist a the University of British Columbia calculated that it would take the simultaneous force of five people pushing in unison to tip a cow, and though a well organized team of tippers could probably pull off such a feat, most of the participants in the sport of cow tipping are usually in some state of heavy intoxication. Despite being debunked, cow tipping will probably still live on in the hearts and dreams of drunken college students and bored country folk across the land.
[Via: The Presurfer]
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