A team of scientists hailing from both Britain and America recently conducted a study known as A Mathematical Model for the Dynamics and Synchronisation of Cows. This endeavor was partly inspired by a directive from the EU council that requires that cows housed in groups are given enough space to all lie down simultaneously, as well as the excitement of an intellectual challenge.
The team’s breakthrough came when they realized that it was biologically logical to view cows as oscillators: they stand up to graze during the first stage, and then prefer to lie down and ruminate during the second stage, which causes them to oscillate between two phases.
To understand the complexities of this behavior, the team "modelled the eating, lying and standing dynamics of a cow using a piecewise linear dynamical system… We chose a form of coupling based on cows having an increased desire to eat if they notice another cow eating and an increased desire to lie down if they notice another cow lying down." This led to the surprising discovery that increasing coupling can actually result in less synchronization.
The researchers included Marian Dawkins and Mason Porter from Oxford University, as well as Erik Bollt and Jie Sun from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. Their work was published in the physics journal Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, marking the only article solely about cows in the 31-year history of the journal.
To further establish their research, the team drew on similar studies focusing on animal behavior. They specifically referenced Synchronisation of Behaviour in Grazing Cattle by PFJ Benham of Reading University in 1982, which noted the importance of synchronized behavior when managing grazing cattle, as well as Synchronisation of Eating, Ruminating and Idling Activity by Grazing Sheep, a 1991 report authored by AJ Rook and PD Penning of the AFRC Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Hurley, Maidenhead. Rook and Penning’s report indicated that the starts of meals were usually more synchronized than the ends.
This study was brought to public attention thanks to Ig Nobel prize-winning scientist Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan.
