Brindle is a coat coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs , cattle , guinea pigs , cats , and, rarely, horses . It is sometimes described as "tiger-striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger 's coat.
84-465: Brindle typically appears as black stripes on a red base. The stripes are eumelanin (black/brown pigment) and the base is phaeomelanin (red/yellow pigment), so the appearance of those pigments can be changed by any of the genes which usually affect them. White markings and ticking can occur on any brindle dog. Brindle is caused by a complex gene process and is technically a form of mosaicism, where some cells express one allele (KB) and other cells express
168-431: A Barr body . Cells in which the chromosome carrying the orange (O) allele is inactivated express the alternative non-orange (o) allele, determined by the (B) gene. Cells in which the non-orange (o) allele is inactivated express the orange (O) allele. Pigment genes are expressed in melanocytes that migrate to the skin surface later in development. In bi-colored tortoiseshell cats, the melanocytes arrive relatively early, and
252-515: A dominance hierarchy . This is maintained in several ways. Cattle often engage in mock fights where they test each other's strength in a non-aggressive way. Licking is primarily performed by subordinates and received by dominant animals. Mounting is a playful behavior shown by calves of both sexes and by bulls and sometimes by cows in estrus, however, this is not a dominance related behavior as has been found in other species. Dominance-associated aggressiveness does not correlate with rank position, but
336-449: A feedlot for "45 days or more in a 12-month period". Historically, the cattle population of Britain rose from 9.8 million in 1878 to 11.7 million in 1908, but beef consumption rose much faster. Britain became the "stud farm of the world" exporting livestock to countries where there were no indigenous cattle. In 1929 80% of the meat trade of the world was products of what were originally English breeds. There were nearly 70 million cattle in
420-436: A torbie or, with large white areas, a caliby . Not uncommonly there will be a "split face" pattern with black on one side of the face and orange on the other, with a dividing line running down the bridge of the nose. Tortoiseshell coloring can also be expressed in the point pattern, referred to as a tortie point . Leonard Doncaster was the first to prove that tortoiseshell is the female heterozygote of orange and black,
504-415: A cow is about nine months long. The ratio of male to female offspring at birth is approximately 52:48. A cow's udder has two pairs of mammary glands or teats. Farms often use artificial insemination , the artificial deposition of semen in the female's genital tract ; this allows farmers to choose from a wide range of bulls to breed their cattle. Estrus too may be artificially induced to facilitate
588-414: A dairy, which may be onsite at the farm or the milk may be shipped to a dairy plant for eventual sale of a dairy product. Lactation is induced in heifers and spayed cows by a combination of physical and psychological stimulation, by drugs, or by a combination of those methods. For mother cows to continue producing milk, they give birth to one calf per year. If the calf is male, it is generally slaughtered at
672-634: A different allele (ky), a little like tortoiseshell cats . This makes it very difficult to test for, and there are currently no commercially available tests that are able to detect brindle. Brindle dogs will usually test as KBky, and carriers (one dominant black allele, one brindle) cannot be identified without breeding. The brindle pattern may also take the place of tan in tricolor coats of some dog breeds (such as Basenjis ). This coloration looks very similar to tricolor, and can be distinguished only at close range. Dogs of this color are often described as "trindle". It can also occur in combination with merle in
756-404: A diurnal pattern, with a stronger preference for clover in the morning, and the proportion of grass increasing towards the evening. When grazing, cattle vary several aspects of their bite, i.e. tongue and jaw movements, depending on characteristics of the plant they are eating. Bite area decreases with the density of the plants but increases with their height. Bite area is determined by the sweep of
840-567: A dorsal stripe when caused by dun or non-dun1 . It usually does not affect the head and legs as much as the body, with the heaviest concentrations of brindling being on the neck, shoulders and hindquarters. The coloring has been documented in the past. At the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Science in Saint Petersburg , a Russian cab horse of brindle coloring from the early 19th century
924-619: A learning experiment had higher heart rates, indicating an emotional reaction to their own learning. After separation from their mothers, Holstein calves react, indicating low mood. Similarly, after hot-iron dehorning , calves react to the post-operative pain. The position of the ears has been used as an indicator of emotional state. Cattle can tell when other cattle are stressed by the chemicals in their urine. Cattle are gregarious , and even short-term isolation causes psychological stress . When heifers are isolated, vocalizations, heart rate and plasma cortisol all increase. When visual contact
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#17330934249721008-504: A longer period of time than horses . Oxen are used worldwide, especially in developing countries . There are some 11 million draft oxen in sub-Saharan Africa, while in 1998 India had over 65 million oxen. At the start of the 21st century, about half the world's crop production depended on land preparation by draft animals. Cattle are not often kept solely for hides, and they are usually a by-product of beef production. Hides are used mainly for leather products such as shoes. In 2012, India
1092-633: A misfolded brain protein , in contaminated meat. Among the intestinal parasites of cattle are Paramphistomum flukes, affecting the rumen, and hookworms in the small intestine. Climate change is expected to exacerbate heat stress in cattle, and for longer periods. Heat-stressed cattle may experience accelerated breakdown of adipose tissue by the liver, causing lipidosis . Cattle eat less when heat stressed, resulting in ruminal acidosis , which can lead to laminitis . Cattle can attempt to deal with higher temperatures by panting more often ; this rapidly decreases carbon dioxide concentrations at
1176-668: A mix of taurine cattle, zebu, and yak. The aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, and the last known individual died in Mazovia , Poland, around 1627. Breeders have attempted to recreate a similar appearance to the aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, producing the Heck breed . A group of taurine-type cattle exist in Africa; they either represent an independent domestication event or were
1260-768: A powerful greenhouse gas, as a byproduct of enteric fermentation , with each cow belching out 100kg a year. Additional methane is produced by anaerobic fermentation of stored manure . The FAO estimates that in 2015 around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions were due to cattle, but this is uncertain. Reducing methane emissions quickly helps limit climate change . Concentrated animal feeding operations in particular produce substantial amounts of wastewater and manure, which can cause environmental harms such as soil erosion, human and animal exposure to toxic chemicals, development of antibiotic resistant bacteria and an increase in E. coli contamination. In many world regions, overgrazing by cattle has reduced biodiversity of
1344-497: A quarter of the world's meat comes from cattle. World cattle meat production in 2021 was 72.3 million tons. Certain breeds of cattle, such as the Holstein-Friesian , are used to produce milk , much of which is processed into dairy products such as butter , cheese , and yogurt . Dairy cattle are usually kept on specialized dairy farms designed for milk production. Most cows are milked twice per day, with milk processed at
1428-428: A range of production and behavioral characteristics for both dairy and beef cattle. Cattle have played a key role in human history , having been domesticated since at least the early neolithic age. Archaeozoological and genetic data indicate that cattle were first domesticated from wild aurochs ( Bos primigenius ) approximately 10,500 years ago. There were two major areas of domestication: one in central Anatolia ,
1512-402: A striped coat pattern; hairs from the stripes have a different texture as well as color, are less straight, and are more unruly. Male horses have sparse manes and tails but do not show a striped coat texture pattern. A Brindle1 test is available. Brindle coloring consists of irregular stripes extending vertically over the horse's body and horizontally around the legs. Brindle horses can also have
1596-461: A third independent domestication from the North African aurochs. Whether there have been two or three domestications, European, African, and Asian cattle share much of their genomes both through their species ancestry and through repeated migrations of livestock and genetic material between species, as shown in the diagram. Cattle were originally identified as three separate species: Bos taurus ,
1680-456: A wider study mapped a further 4.2% of the cattle genome. Behavioral traits of cattle can be as heritable as some production traits, and often, the two can be related. The heritability of temperament (response to isolation during handling) has been calculated as 0.36 and 0.46 for habituation to handling. Rangeland assessments show that the heritability of aggressiveness in cattle is around 0.36. Quantitative trait loci have been found for
1764-506: A young age to produce veal . Cows produce milk until three weeks before birth. Over the last fifty years, dairy farming has become more intensive to increase the yield of milk produced by each cow. The Holstein-Friesian is the breed of dairy cow most common in the UK, Europe and the United States. It has been bred selectively to produce the highest yields of milk of any cow. The average in the UK
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#17330934249721848-407: Is a cat coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell pattern. Like tortoiseshell-and-white or calico cats, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile. Tortoiseshell cats, or torties , combine two colors other than white, either closely mixed or in larger patches. The colors are often described as red and black, but
1932-405: Is a base coat that covers the entire body of the horse. This base coat color can be any color. Recorded examples have been bay , chestnut , palomino , and dun . Earliest documented cases were said to have red dun or grulla as a base coat. Over top of the base color is either a lighter or darker color, giving the appearance of stripes. Brindle coloring exists in cattle . The Blue Wildebeest
2016-725: Is a diurnal rhythm in suckling, peaking at roughly 6am, 11:30am, and 7pm. Under natural conditions, calves stay with their mother until weaning at 8 to 11 months. Heifer and bull calves are equally attached to their mothers in the first few months of life. Cattle have a variety of cognitive abilities. They can memorize the locations of multiple food sources, and can retain memories for at least 48 days. Young cattle learn more quickly than adults, and calves are capable of discrimination learning, distinguishing familiar and unfamiliar animals, and between humans, using faces and other cues. Calves prefer their own mother's vocalizations to those of an unfamiliar cow. Vocalizations provide information on
2100-508: Is a species of brindled gnu. For crested geckos , the term "brindle" is used to describe a morph with darker stripes of color. The word brindled is a variant of Middle English brended (early 15c.), from bren "brown color" (13c.), noun from past participle of brennen "burn" (from Proto-Germanic *brennan "to burn", from PIE root *gwher- "to heat, warm"). The etymological sense of the adjective appears to be "marked as though by branding or burning". In William Shakespeare 's play Macbeth ,
2184-402: Is also called ginger. Therefore, a tortoiseshell cat may be a chocolate tortoiseshell or a blue/cream tortoiseshell or the like, based on the alleles for the (B) and (D) genes. Female cats are homogametic (XX) and undergo the phenomenon of X-inactivation , in which one of the X chromosomes is turned off at random in each cell in very early embryonic development. The inactivated X becomes
2268-469: Is an old variety in guinea pigs . They are difficult to breed to perfection, as the black and red hairs should intermingle evenly all over. Brindle guinea pigs' fur type is Abyssinian (rosetted). Brindle coloring in horses is extremely rare and most commonly caused by pigment concentrating along Blaschko's lines during fetal development. In two confirmed cases it has been linked to spontaneous chimerism , resulting in an animal with two sets of DNA , with
2352-471: Is around 22 litres per day. Dairy is a large industry worldwide. In 2023, the 27 European Union countries produced 143 million tons of cow's milk; the United States 104.1 million tons; and India 99.5 million tons. India further produces 94.4 million tons of buffalo milk , making it (in 2023) the world's largest milk producer; its dairy industry employs some 80 million people. Oxen are cattle trained as draft animals . Oxen can pull heavier loads and for
2436-474: Is better than that of horses, but worse at localising sounds than goats, and much worse than dogs or humans. They can distinguish between live and recorded human speech. Olfaction probably plays a large role in their social life, indicating social and reproductive status. Cattle can tell when other animals are stressed by smelling the alarm chemicals in their urine. Cattle can be trained to recognise conspecific individuals using olfaction only. Cattle live in
2520-428: Is closely related to rank distance between individuals. The horns of cattle are honest signals used in mate selection. Horned cattle attempt to keep greater distances between themselves and have fewer physical interactions than hornless cattle, resulting in more stable social relationships. In calves, agonistic behavior becomes less frequent as space allowance increases, but not as group size changes, whereas in adults,
2604-496: Is contentious, and authorities such as the American Society of Mammalogists treat these taxa as separate species. Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu (such as the sanga cattle ( Bos taurus africanus x Bos indicus ), but also between one or both of these and some other members of
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2688-454: Is determined by which O-gene allele is present. Accordingly, the cat's coat will be either entirely orange or melanistic (respectively X Y or X Y). Very rarely (approximately 1 in 3,000 ) a male tortoiseshell or calico is born; these typically have an extra X chromosome (XXY), a condition known in humans as Klinefelter syndrome , and their cells undergo an X-inactivation process like in females. As in humans, these cats often are sterile because of
2772-488: Is now northern Syria. Although European cattle are largely descended from the taurine lineage, gene flow from African cattle (partially of indicine origin) contributed substantial genomic components to both southern European cattle breeds and their New World descendants. A study on 134 breeds showed that modern taurine cattle originated from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia, and Europe. Some researchers have suggested that African taurine cattle are derived from
2856-496: Is re-instated, vocalizations rapidly decline; heart rate decreases more rapidly if the returning cattle are familiar to the previously isolated individual. Mirrors have been used to reduce stress in isolated cattle. The average sleep time of a domestic cow is about 4 hours a day. Cattle do have a stay apparatus , but do not sleep standing up; they lie down to sleep deeply. In 2009, the National Institutes of Health and
2940-530: Is slowed, so that the pigment cells arrive late in development and have less time to intermingle. Observation of tri-color cats will show that, with a little white color, the orange and black patches become more defined, and with still more white, the patches become completely distinct. Each patch represents a clone of cells derived from one original cell in the early embryo. Male cats, like males of other therian mammals, are heterogametic (XY). The single X chromosome does not undergo X-inactivation, ergo coat color
3024-499: Is some 25–30 years. Beef cattle go to slaughter at around 18 months, and dairy cows at about five years. Cattle are ruminants , meaning their digestive system is highly specialized for processing plant material such as grass rich in cellulose , a tough carbohydrate polymer which many animals cannot digest. They do this in symbiosis with micro-organisms – bacteria , fungi , and protozoa – that possess cellulases , enzymes that split cellulose into its constituent sugars . Among
3108-409: Is spread by midges . Psoroptic mange is a disabling skin condition caused by mites . Bovine tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium; it causes disease in humans and in wild animals such as deer and badgers. Foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a virus, affects a range of hoofed livestock and is highly contagious. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a neurodegenerative disease spread by a prion ,
3192-624: Is the number of animals within a specified area. High stocking density can affect cattle health, welfare, productivity, and feeding behaviour. Densely-stocked cattle feed more rapidly and lie down sooner, increasing the risk of teat infection, mastitis, and embryo loss . The stress and negative health impacts induced by high stocking density such as in concentrated animal feeding operations or feedlots , auctions, and transport may be detrimental to cattle welfare. To produce milk from dairy cattle , most calves are separated from their mothers soon after birth and fed milk replacement in order to retain
3276-448: The Levant and Western Iran , giving rise to the taurine line, and a second in the area that is now Pakistan, resulting in the indicine line. Modern mitochondrial DNA variation indicates the taurine line may have arisen from as few as 80 aurochs tamed in the upper reaches of Mesopotamia near the villages of Çayönü Tepesi in what is now southeastern Turkey, and Dja'de el-Mughara in what
3360-914: The Levant and Western Iran . A separate domestication event occurred in the Indian subcontinent , which gave rise to zebu. There were over 940 million cattle in the world by 2022. Cattle are responsible for around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions . They were one of the first domesticated animals to have a fully-mapped genome . The term cattle was borrowed from Anglo-Norman catel (replacing native Old English terms like kine , now considered archaic, poetic, or dialectal), itself from Medieval Latin capitale 'principal sum of money, capital', itself derived in turn from Latin caput 'head'. Cattle originally meant movable personal property , especially livestock of any kind, as opposed to real property (the land, which also included wild or small free-roaming animals such as chickens—they were sold as part of
3444-459: The US Department of Agriculture reported having mapped the bovine genome . Cattle have some 22,000 genes, of which 80% are shared with humans; they have about 1000 genes that they share with dogs and rodents, but not with humans. Using this bovine "HapMap", researchers can track the differences between breeds that affect meat and milk yields. Early research focused on Hereford genetic sequences;
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3528-520: The genus Bos – yaks (the dzo or yattle ), banteng , and gaur . Hybrids such as the beefalo breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison , leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos , as well. The hybrid origin of some types may not be obvious – for example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only taurine-type cattle in Nepal, found them to be
3612-638: The miniature Zebu are kept as pets . Taurine cattle are widely distributed across Europe and temperate areas of Asia, the Americas, and Australia. Zebus are found mainly in India and tropical areas of Asia, America, and Australia. Sanga cattle are found primarily in sub-Saharan Africa . These types, sometimes classified as separate species or subspecies, are further divided into over 1,000 recognized breeds . Around 10,500 years ago, taurine cattle were domesticated from wild aurochs progenitors in central Anatolia ,
3696-413: The rumen , reticulum , omasum , and abomasum . The rumen is the largest compartment and it harbours the most important parts of the microbiome. The reticulum, the smallest compartment, is known as the "honeycomb". The omasum's main function is to absorb water and nutrients from the digestible feed. The abomasum has a similar function to the human stomach. Cattle regurgitate and re-chew their food in
3780-548: The "red" patches can instead be orange, yellow, or cream, and the "black" can instead be chocolate, gray, tabby , or blue. Tortoiseshell cats with the tabby pattern as one of their colors are sometimes referred to as torbies or torbie cats . "Tortoiseshell" is typically reserved for multicolored cats with relatively small or no white markings. Those that are predominantly white with tortoiseshell patches are described as tricolor, tortoiseshell-and-white, or calico (in Canada and
3864-529: The European or "taurine" cattle (including similar types from Africa and Asia); Bos indicus , the Indicine or "zebu" ; and the extinct Bos primigenius , the aurochs . The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle. They were later reclassified as one species, Bos taurus , with the aurochs ( B. t. primigenius ), zebu ( B. t. indicus ), and taurine ( B. t. taurus ) cattle as subspecies. However, this taxonomy
3948-452: The US by the early 1930s. Cattle have the largest biomass of any animal species on Earth, at roughly 400 million tonnes, followed closely by Antarctic krill at 379 million tonnes and humans at 373 million tonnes. In 2023, the countries with the most cattle were India with 307.5 million (32.6% of the total), Brazil with 194.4 million, and China with 101.5 million, out of a total of 942.6 million in
4032-619: The United States). Tortoiseshell markings appear in many different breeds, as well as in non-purebred domestic cats. This pattern is especially preferred in the Japanese Bobtail breed, and exists in the Cornish Rex group. Tortoiseshell cats have particolored coats with patches of various shades of red, grey, and black, and sometimes white. The size of the patches can vary from a fine speckled pattern to large areas of color. Typically,
4116-457: The age, sex, dominance status and reproductive status of the caller, and may indicate estrus in cows and competitive display in bulls. Cows can categorize images as familiar and unfamiliar individuals. Cloned calves from the same donor form subgroups, suggesting that kin discrimination may be a basis of grouping behaviour. Cattle use visual/brain lateralisation when scanning novel and familiar stimuli. They prefer to view novel stimuli with
4200-415: The alleles are notated as an uppercase O for orange, or a lowercase o for not-orange. Tortoiseshell and calico cats are labeled X X , indicating O-gene heterozygosity. The (B) and (O) genes can be further modified by a recessive dilute gene (dd) which softens the colors. Orange becomes cream, black becomes gray, etc. Various terms are used for specific colors, for example, gray is also called blue, orange
4284-676: The available food; foraging velocity decreases and intake rate increases in areas of abundant palatable forage. Cattle avoid grazing areas contaminated by the faeces of other cattle more strongly than they avoid areas contaminated by sheep, but they do not avoid pasture contaminated by rabbits. In cattle, temperament or behavioral disposition can affect productivity, overall health, and reproduction. Five underlying categories of temperament traits have been proposed: shyness–boldness, exploration–avoidance, activity, aggressiveness , and sociability. There are many indicators of emotion in cattle. Holstein–Friesian heifers that had made clear improvements in
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#17330934249724368-468: The brindle pattern being an expression of two different sets of equine coat color genes in one horse. These forms are not heritable. In some horses the pattern seems to be inherited, indicating that one or more genes are responsible. One heritable brindle pattern in a family of American Quarter Horses was identified in 2016 and named Brindle1 (BR1). The Brindle1 phenotype has an X-linked , semidominant mode of inheritance. Female horses with this gene have
4452-474: The bulls weigh 1,000–1,200 kg (2,200–2,600 lb). Before 1790, beef cattle averaged only 160 kg (350 lb) net. Thereafter, weights climbed steadily. Cattle breeds vary widely in size; the tallest and heaviest is the Chianina , where a mature bull may be up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) at the shoulder, and may reach 1,280 kg (2,820 lb) in weight. The natural life of domestic cattle
4536-534: The cat is a mixture of cells with different numbers of X chromosomes. In the folklore of several cultures, cats with tortoiseshell coloration are believed to bring good luck . In Ireland, tortoiseshell cats are considered to bring good luck to their owners. In the United States , tortoiseshells are sometimes referred to as money cats . In Japan, tortoiseshell cats are considered to bring good luck against shipwrecks. There are some additional interpretations of
4620-481: The climate warms, increasing the risk of tick-borne diseases. Both beef and milk production are likely to experience declines due to climate change. Cattle health is at once a veterinary issue (for animal welfare and productivity), a public health issue (to limit the spread of disease), and a food safety issue (to ensure meat and dairy products are safe to eat). These concerns are reflected in farming regulations. These rules can become political matters, as when it
4704-564: The corresponding male being orange. In the course of his studies he discovered that the rare tortoiseshell male is often sterile. Tortoiseshell and calico coats result from an interaction between genetic and developmental factors. The primary gene for coat color (B), for the colors brown, chocolate, cinnamon, etc., can be masked by the co-dominant gene for the orange color (O), which is on the X chromosome and has two alleles : orange (X ) and not-orange (X ) that produce orange phaeomelanin and black eumelanin pigments, respectively. Typically,
4788-500: The cows' milk for human consumption. Animal welfare advocates are critical of this practice , stating that this breaks the natural bond between the mother and her calf. The welfare of veal calves is also a concern. Two sports involving cattle are thought to be cruel by animal welfare groups: rodeos and bullfighting . Such groups oppose rodeo activities including bull riding , calf roping and steer roping , stating that rodeos are unnecessary and cause stress, injury, and death to
4872-489: The grazed plants and of animals at different trophic levels in the ecosystem . A well documented consequence of overgrazing is woody plant encroachment in rangelands, which significantly reduces the carrying capacity of the land over time. Cattle husbandry practices including branding , castration , dehorning , ear tagging , nose ringing , restraint, tail docking , the use of veal crates, and cattle prods have raised welfare concerns. Stocking density
4956-471: The imbalance in sex chromosomes. Some male calico or tortoiseshell cats may be chimeras , which result from fusion in early development of two (fraternal twin) embryos with different color genotypes; these torties can pass only one color to their offspring, not both, according to which of the two original embryos its testes are descended from. Others are mosaics , in which the XXY condition arises after conception and
5040-685: The land). The word is a variant of chattel (a unit of personal property) and closely related to capital in the economic sense. The word cow came via Anglo-Saxon cū (plural cȳ ), from Common Indo-European gʷōus ( genitive gʷowés ) 'a bovine animal', cf. Persian : gâv , Sanskrit : go- . In older English sources such as the King James Version of the Bible, cattle often means livestock, as opposed to deer , which are wild. Cattle are large artiodactyls , mammals with cloven hooves , meaning that they walk on two toes,
5124-402: The left eye (using the right brain hemisphere), but the right eye for familiar stimuli. Individual cattle have also been observed to display different personality traits, such as fearfulness and sociability. Vision is the dominant sense; cattle obtain almost half of their information visually. Being prey animals, cattle evolved to look out for predators almost all around, with eyes that are on
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#17330934249725208-495: The luck of tortoiseshell cats, such as the one in England that describes an announcement of misfortune when a strange tortoiseshell cat enters a house. In England, if a woman dreams of a tortoiseshell cat, it can be interpreted as a warning that she should take care of her so-called friends. Some studies have found that people believe tortoiseshell cats are more likely to be aggressive and have owners report stronger prey interest -
5292-440: The many bacteria that contribute are Fibrobacter succinogenes , Ruminococcus flavefaciens , and Ruminococcus albus . Cellulolytic fungi include several species of Neocallimastix , while the protozoa include the ciliates Eudiplodinium maggie and Ostracodinium album . If the animal's feed changes over time, the composition of this microbiome changes in response. Cattle have one large stomach with four compartments;
5376-405: The more white a cat has, the more solid the patches of color. Dilution genes may modify the coloring, lightening the fur to a mix of cream and blue, lilac or fawn; the markings on tortoiseshell cats are usually asymmetrical . Occasionally tabby patterns of black and brown (eumelanistic) and red (phaeomelanistic) colors are also seen. These patched tabbies are often called a tortie-tabby ,
5460-647: The number of agonistic encounters increases with group size. Dominance relationships in semi-wild highland cattle are very firm, with few overt aggressive conflicts: most disputes are settled by agonistic (non-aggressive, competitive) behaviors with no physical contact between opponents, reducing the risk of injury. Dominance status depends on age and sex, with older animals usually dominant to young ones and males dominant to females. Young bulls gain superior dominance status over adult cows when they reach about 2 years of age. Cattle eat mixed diets, but prefer to eat approximately 70% clover and 30% grass. This preference has
5544-496: The opening of act 4, scene 1, is often taken to refer to a brindled cat in the sense of coat pattern as described in this article, because it does contain the word "brinded": However, in this context – Elizabethan English – the word "brinded" was used to mean branded , as in marked by fire . The word in Elizabethans used to describe a brindle-colored coat was "streaked". Tortoiseshell cats Tortoiseshell
5628-549: The points, or as a brindle merle, in breeds such as the Cardigan Welsh Corgi , although the latter is not acceptable in the show ring. The "dark" markings are black or the dilutions gray (called blue) or brown (sometimes called red). It is not uncommon for a brindled Cairn Terrier to become progressively more black or silver as it ages. Brindled domestic cats are also known as tortoiseshell cats , and in some cases, tabby cats ; they are almost exclusively female. Brindle
5712-438: The price of increasing pH , respiratory alkalosis . To deal with this, cattle are forced to shed bicarbonate through urination , at the expense of rumen buffering. These two pathologies can both cause lameness . Another specific risk is mastitis . This worsens as Calliphora blowflies increase in number with continued warming, spreading mastitis-causing bacteria. Ticks too are likely to increase in temperate zones as
5796-437: The process of chewing the cud , like most ruminants. While feeding, cows swallow their food without chewing; it goes into the rumen for storage. Later, the food is regurgitated to the mouth, a mouthful at a time, where the cud is chewed by the molars, grinding down the coarse vegetation to small particles. The cud is then swallowed again and further digested by the micro-organisms in the cow's stomach. The gestation period for
5880-483: The process. Copulation lasts several seconds and consists of a single pelvic thrust . Cows seek secluded areas for calving. Semi-wild Highland cattle heifers first give birth at 2 or 3 years of age, and the timing of birth is synchronized with increases in natural food quality. Average calving interval is 391 days, and calving mortality within the first year of life is 5%. Beef calves suckle an average of 5 times per day, spending some 46 minutes suckling. There
5964-472: The result of crossing taurines domesticated elsewhere with local aurochs, but they are genetically distinct; some authors name them as a separate subspecies, Bos taurus africanus . The only pure African taurine breeds remaining are the N'Dama , Kuri and some varieties of the West African Shorthorn. Feral cattle are those that have been allowed to go wild. Populations exist in many parts of
6048-495: The sides of their head rather than the front. This gives them a field of view of 330°, but limits binocular vision (and therefore stereopsis ) to some 30° to 50°, compared to 140° in humans. They are dichromatic , like most mammals. Cattle avoid bitter-tasting foods, selecting sweet foods for energy. Their sensitivity to sour-tasting foods helps them to maintain optimal ruminal pH . They seek out salty foods by taste and smell to maintain their electrolyte balance. Their hearing
6132-403: The skin surface. There are a number of alleles of this gene that produce greater or lesser delays. The amount of white is artificially divided into mitted , bicolor , harlequin , and van , going from almost no white to almost completely white. In the extreme case, no melanocytes make it to the skin and the cat is entirely white (but not an albino). In intermediate cases, melanocyte migration
6216-504: The slang term " tortitude " was coined in reference to this perceived behavior. There is, however, little existing scientific evidence on the matter. One study found that there was not a relationship between coat color and tameness. Based on varying study results, assumptions cannot be made between cat coat color and personality. Cattle Cattle ( Bos taurus ) are large, domesticated , bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock . They are prominent modern members of
6300-583: The subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos . Mature female cattle are called cows and mature male cattle are bulls . Young female cattle are called heifers , young male cattle are oxen or bullocks , and castrated male cattle are known as steers . Cattle are commonly raised for meat , for dairy products , and for leather . As draft animals , they pull carts and farm implements . In India , cattle are sacred animals within Hinduism, and may not be killed. Small breeds such as
6384-416: The third and fourth digits. Like all bovid species, they can have horns, which are unbranched and are not shed annually. Coloration varies with breed; common colors are black, white, and red/brown, and some breeds are spotted or have mixed colors. Bulls are larger than cows of the same breed by up to a few hundred kilograms. British Hereford cows, for example, weigh 600–800 kg (1,300–1,800 lb), while
6468-419: The tongue; in one study observing 750-kilogram (1,650 lb) steers, bite area reached a maximum of approximately 170 cm (30 sq in). Bite depth increases with the height of the plants. By adjusting their behavior, cattle obtain heavier bites in swards that are tall and sparse compared with short, dense swards of equal mass/area. Cattle adjust other aspects of their grazing behavior in relation to
6552-413: The two cell types become intermingled; this produces the characteristic brindled appearance consisting of an intimate mixture of orange and black cells, with occasional small diffuse spots of orange and black. In tri-colored calico cats, a separate gene interacts developmentally with the coat color gene. This spotting gene produces white, unpigmented patches by delaying the migration of the melanocytes to
6636-721: The world, sometimes on small islands. Some, such as Amsterdam Island cattle , Chillingham cattle , and Aleutian wild cattle have become sufficiently distinct to be described as breeds. Cattle are often raised by allowing herds to graze on the grasses of large tracts of rangeland . Raising cattle extensively in this manner allows the use of land that might be unsuitable for growing crops. The most common interactions with cattle involve daily feeding , cleaning and milking . Many routine husbandry practices involve ear tagging , dehorning , loading, medical operations , artificial insemination , vaccinations and hoof care, as well as training for agricultural shows and preparations. Around
6720-565: The world, Fulani husbandry rests on behavioural techniques, whereas in Europe, cattle are controlled primarily by physical means, such as fences . Breeders use cattle husbandry to reduce tuberculosis susceptibility by selective breeding and maintaining herd health to avoid concurrent disease. In the United States, many cattle are raised intensively, kept in concentrated animal feeding operations , meaning there are at least 700 mature dairy cows or at least 1000 other cattle stabled or confined in
6804-406: The world. Cattle are kept on farms to produce meat, milk, and leather, and sometimes to pull carts or farm implements. The meat of adult cattle is known as beef , and that of calves as veal . Other body parts are used as food products, including blood, liver , kidney , heart and oxtail . Approximately 300 million cattle, including dairy animals, are slaughtered each year for food. About
6888-430: Was mounted and put on display due to its rarity. The brindled pattern found in horses could be described as vertical stripes that are found along the neck, back, hindquarters, and upper legs. The horse's head is usually a solid color and is not affected by the striping. The brindled pattern has no effect on dark points on horses. Some brindle-colored horses are more eye-catching than others. With this coat pattern there
6972-500: Was proposed in the UK in 2011 that milk from tuberculosis -infected cattle should be allowed to enter the food chain. Cattle disease attracted attention in the 1980s and 1990s when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) broke out in the United Kingdom . BSE can cross into humans as the deadly variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease ; 178 people in the UK had died from it by 2010. The gut flora of cattle produce methane ,
7056-415: Was the world's largest producer of cattle hides. Cattle hides account for around 65% of the world's leather production. Cattle are subject to pests including arthropod parasites such as ticks (which can in turn transmit diseases caused by bacteria and protozoa), and diseases caused by pathogens including bacteria and viruses . Some viral diseases are spread by insects - i.e. bluetongue disease
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