Cow Tipping - Facts or Fiction

A few college students went on a drinking spree after they won an inter-college game. On their way home, they saw a few cows sleeping. They quietly sneaked in on the sleeping animal and tipped the cow. The next day they began to brag about their cow tipping to everyone at school. Is cow tipping fact or fiction? Is there any truth behind this urban legend? Let us try to find some answers on cow tipping facts.

What is Cow Tipping?
Just as the above story says about some college kids tipping cows over, there are many such similar stories that make rounds with reports of cow tipping. Your inbox will be flooded with e-mails that claim they contain authentic cow tipping facts. Even the Internet contains many such reports on cow tipping. This fancy idea entices many urban citizens, whereas the cow tipping fact remains, that it is virtually impossible. So, what is cow tipping? Cow tipping is a proposed activity, where, one sneaks up on a sleeping upright cow and pushes it over, just for fun.

A Legendary Myth
As legend has it, cows are slow-moving, slow-witted and weak legged bovine animals. They have a high center of gravity and supposedly sleep standing up. Cow tipping was a silly trick that was played on city-people visiting the country side for the first time. It was a wild goose chase that caught the fancy of the city people and turned into the legend of cow tipping. Pranksters taking advantage of the situation, come up with all sorts of stories about cow tipping.

An Impossible Event
Cow tipping is a total myth as cows only doze while they are sleeping standing up. They can easily be awaken even by the slightest sound. A cow will go into deep sleep by sitting down and not standing upright. A study by a doctor of zoology at the University of British Columbia, Margo Lillie, gave a conclusion that broke the myth surrounding cow tipping. The study concluded that cow tipping by a single individual is impossible. It would take at least two people to push the cow. The cow is bound to react when touched. This will cause the animal to become alert from her sleep and reorient her footing. And if it reacts, then it will take about four people to push it over. Cows have very good sense of smell and hearing, so it is not possible to sneak up on them.

Cow Tipping Games
There are many computer cow tipping games like Fallout 3 and Asheron's Call, where players can carry out cow tipping. Even, in the 2006 animated movie Barnyard, a group of cows go 'boy-tipping' as their revenge for cow tipping. Thus, many cow tipping games and movies have added fuel to the cow tipping fiction.

Do Cows Die from Cow Tipping?
As explained above, the answer to do cows die from cow tipping is quite obvious. Cow tipping is virtually impossible and no cow has ever died from cow tipping. Even if one manages to tip cows, it may at the most injure the animal, but I don't think it will prove to be fatal. The rate of cow injury due to cow tipping is very high as people are often drunk and thinking-impaired when they attempt to do this silly thing. Instead, you may hear some person being dead for attempting cow tipping. This foolish endeavor may irritate the animal and cause it to charge the person, thereby killing him!

This was some information regarding cow tipping, fact or fiction. You can yourself differentiate the myth from reality with some rational and logical thinking. Cow tipping is just an urban legend and you will find no farmer promoting cow tipping. The farmer is more concerned about the safety of his cows, rather than satisfying a legend on cow tipping.