Why do cows sleep standing up?

Question

Why do cows sleep standing up?

Answer 1

Cows often sleep lying down. Sometimes on their sides.

Answer 2

It would be too hard to go cow tipping if they were already laying down.

Answer 3

i think they sleep while they rest on the floor

Answer 4

Because they dream they can fly!

Answer 5

to ensure continued circulation of blood around the entire body, and for safety e.g. if they are already standing when a predator comes they can make a quicker run for it.

Answer 6

So we can come along & tip them over!

It's our favourite past time out here in the sticks, a bit of cow tipping is great craic lol!!!!

Answer 7

They don't. They rest sometimes when they are standing up but, if they have no reason to, then they sleep lying down.

Answer 8

because it is easier for then to MOOOVE around.

Answer 9

Too lazy to lay down

Answer 10

Despite popular belief, while cows may nap for short periods of time standing-up, prolonged sleep is always laying down in a prone position. Horses, on the other hand, only lay down when they are ill.

I must correct the response above. Horses standing, but sometimes sleep laying down, not just when ill.

Answer 11

Actually cows spend most of their sleeping time lying down.  Yes cows can sleep will standing.  As can many animals, including some humans.

Answer 12

Cows have the ability to doze while standing but they lie down a lot too.  Just check out any cow pasture or wander through a cow barn, there is almost always one of the herd lying down.

Amybaby:  I'm glad you corrected your answer.  Horses doze or "catnap" while standing but every horse I have ever known (and I have worked with hundreds) has preferred to do their sleeping lying down.  Give them a safe soft spot and they sleep flat out.

Answer 13

he animals which sleep standing up are all grazers, and the reason they sleep standing up has a lot to do with simple anatomy.

Grazing quadrupeds do not have a full diaphragm like we do, that separates their guts entirely from their lungs -- and they have an awful lot of gut, because you need that length of gut to break down the insoluble cellulose in what they eat. So this gigantic bag of guts just kind of hangs there inside the skin, protected by the ribs. Also, in many animals the lungs are attached directly to the ribs and breathing *must* involve motion of the ribs. Now, when the animal lies down, this compresses everything: the ribs get squished in along where they lie, and the guts get squished up inside them, and the guts tend to squish up around the other organs -- including the lungs, which can't move as much as normal anyway and which also put further pressure on the heart.

The smaller the animal is, the less this is a problem; the less overall weight and compression there is. This is why calves and foals are often to be found lying down, where adult horses and cattle aren't. However, many "medium sized" grazers, like cattle, *can* lie down if they want to -- it is just not comfortable, and as several other people have pointed out here, there are issues of leg length and the time it would take for them to get up if they were attacked by a predator, as well, so they only lie down if they are ill, extremely tired, and/or feeling perfectly safe. However when you get to the very large animals, like elephants, it becomes even more of a problem. It goes far beyond awkwardness -- an adult elephant will actually die if it lies down for more than a few hours, as the weight of the gut pressing up against the lungs eventually puts too much strain on them and they smother.

Answer 14

Myth.....

Watching the laying down cows in my back field....

*hoping they are just sleeping*

Peace.