Do you want to play fetch with my cow?

A 9th grader recently asked me what my favorite animal was. Even after talking about dogs for 45 minutes, I couldn’t give a straight answer; “I’d really like to get to know pigs better,” I said. “And cows are awesomely interesting. Oh! And turkeys.” 

I guess I’m no longer in 4th grade where my favorite color is blue and I like the number 7.

As an animal behavior researcher, the more I learn about non-human animals, the more I realize I don’t have a “favorite” animal. I'm always fascinated by the next animal who makes his way into my life. It’s also particularly exciting when we find that the boundaries of our interactions with animals are always expanding in new and unexpected ways.

Take the recent story of Regina and Luna, an unconventional story of “man’s best friend” because there is no man and there is no dog; Regina is a girl and Luna is a cow.

According to Regina, when her parents wouldn’t get her a horse, she made one out of a cow. Regina started walking in the woods with Luna, the cow, and getting her accustomed to human contact and riding equipment. Two years later, Luna is clearing jumps and the duo are making international news. This cow, to everyone’s surprise, was doing much more then living to produce milk or steak.

For a dog spy like me, there was a lesson here: The activities we humans assign to other species are not necessarily an accurate representation of their full range of capabilities or possibilities.

Regina comments that, “Luna thinks she is a horse.” Well, no. Luna is a cow who behaves in a way typically associated with how horses can or should behave. 

Maybe, like Luna, more cows could be prepped to go out for a ride. Maybe there could be cow jumping and agility competitions. Maybe there are! Maybe there could be Sunday strolls in the woods with Bessie and Wilma. Would there be a mental shift away from eating cows if we engaged in more coordinated and intimate activities with them, like walks or rides the woods?

Speaking of pushing the envelope of interspecific activities (activities between members of two different species), I came across an Alpaca who was introduced to surfing. 

Photo via Pilar Olivares / Reuters

The restrictions, limitations and stereotypes we make about the nature of our relationships with other species are potentially just that, restrictions, limitations and stereotypes. 

Let's not pigeon hole animals, whether they be dogs, alpacas, cows or even pigeons.