COWBOYS and matadors who want to know if a bull will give them a run for
their money should take a glance at its hairstyle. Cattle’s coiffure, it seems,
reveals how likely an animal is to overreact to unfamiliar situations.
Temple Grandin and her colleagues at Colorado State University in Fort
Collins scored the behaviour of over 1500 cattle in auction rings in Colorado
and Texas. Calm cattle that simply walked or stood around were given a low
“temperament score”. Agitated animals that head-butted people or rammed fences
or walls were given a high score.
While one researcher scored each…
