With a cowboy hat and the cow reclining on her shoulder, Laura Londoño, a veterinarian who specializes in animal behavior, says it bluntly: forget the dog or cat—the most pampered one in the house has horns and reddish fur.
In the videos, she hugs her, strokes her behind the ears, and lets her rest her head on her chest as if she had been a pet all her life. And it’s not a whim: cows recognize those who care for them, form real emotional bonds, enjoy physical contact, and even become stressed when they are separated from their calves or the people they grew up with.
The scene seems to come straight from a storybook farm, but it’s merely a glimpse of something science has been confirming for years: cows feel much more than people imagine.
In the comments, hundreds of people agreed on one more thing: seeing so much tenderness in an animal that most people associate only with a plate of food made many rethink their eating habits and even talk about becoming vegan.