OLD MACDONALD, WATCH YOUR BACK - COWS HOLD GRUDGES

Depending on how the credentials of these researchers shake out (from the sketchy reporting - all of it from Australia, BTW - "professor of Animal Welfare" is all I can make out), this could either be a comical little tidbit or the start of a snowball. But two scientists claim that "cows have a complex mental life in which they bear grudges, nurture friendships and become excited by intellectual challenges." These people are prepared to demonstrate that "cows are capable of strong emotions such as pain, fear and even anxiety about the future." The red flag is that "the findings have emerged from studies of farm animals that have found similar traits in pigs, goats and chickens. They suggest such animals may be so emotionally similar to humans that welfare laws need to be reconsidered." Well, yeah, that would be great, but if the actual researchers are saying that, it sounds like they'll be easily dismissed by the mainstream - their experiments were pre-arranged to prove a point, and only the USDA can get away with that.