We all know that the Cow Says Moo, the Pig Says Oink and the Horse Says Neigh. Yet, one may wonder why a cow does not say neigh and why horse does not say moo. In fact, horses communicate in various ways, including vocalizations such as nickering, squealing or whinnying; touch, through mutual grooming or nuzzling; smell; and body language. Mister Ed was a famous television star horse that was actually able to talk. Bamboo Harvester was the Palomino horse from Los Angeles that portrayed Mr. Ed in the 1961-1966 comedy series. Bamboo Harvester's trainer was Les Hilton who taught the horse how to move his lips, which made it appear as though the horse was actually talking. The voiceover was provided by Allan "Rocky" Lane, an actor. It is unknown if any horses are able to talk in real life, but perhaps all horses can talk and simply choose not to. Horses use a combination of ear position, neck and head height, movement, and foot stomping or tail swishing to communicate. Another famous horse was Silver the white stallion that helped make the Lone Ranger famous. Silver was named by Tonto the Lone Ranger's best friend. In the television series, The Lone Ranger was portrayed by Clayton Moore and Tonto was portrayed by Jay Silverheels. There are many episodes of the Lone Ranger in which Silver saved the Lone Ranger's life. Discipline is maintained in a horse herd first through body language and gestures, then, if needed, through physical contact such as biting, kicking, nudging, or other means of forcing a misbehaving herd member to move. In most cases, the animal that successfully causes another to move is dominant, whether it uses only body language or adds physical reinforcement. Horses are not particularly vocal, but do have four basic vocalizations: the neigh or whinny, the nicker, the squeal and the snort. They may also make sighing, grunting or groaning noises at times. The famous Mr. Ed was a very smart horse because of his unique ability to talk. In particular, the famous Mr. Ed only talked to his good friend Wilbur. While most horses cannot talk, they can actually interpret the body language of other creatures, including humans, whom they view as predators. If socialized to human contact, horses usually respond to humans as a non-threatening predator. Humans do not always understand this, however, and may behave in a way, particularly if using aggressive discipline, that resembles an attacking predator and triggers the horse's fight-or-flight response. On the other hand, some humans exhibit fear of a horse, and a horse may interpret this behavior as human submission to the authority of the horse, placing the human in a subordinate role in the horse's mind. This may lead the horse to behave in a more dominant and aggressive fashion. Human handlers are more successful if they learn to properly interpret a horse's body language and temper their own responses accordingly. Some methods of horse training explicitly instruct horse handlers to behave in ways that the horse will interpret as the behavior of a trusted leader in a herd and thus more willingly comply with commands from a human handler. Other methods encourage conditioning to teach the horse to respond in a desired way to human body language, but also teach handlers to recognize the meaning of horse body language. The neigh is sometimes referred to as a whinny. The Whinny is a high-pitched neigh. It will start as a squeal and then end up as a nicker. It can last a few seconds and can be heard for over a half a mile away. While horses rely most on body language to communicate, the noises they make are also meaningful. There are four types of horse voices: the whinny, nicker, snort and squeal. Each one has a precise meaning, and the sounds mean the same thing each time, for every horse.
Everyone knows that a Cow Says Moo. Cows are herd animals and have complex social structures. Cows are classifed as domestic bovine, typically of the species Bos taurus. This nomenclature also applies to other large mammals including cattle, moose, sea lions and whales. Mooing is one way that cows interact and how they express their emotions. They use different pitches of sound to express different emotions. They moo to: seek their herd mates, calf or mother; say they are hungry; call for a partner when they are wishing to mate; raise alarm to warn their friends and family of potential danger; show contentment; and express pain. Cattle, or cows (female) and bulls (male), are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. Domestic cows are one of the most common farm animals around the world, and the English language has several words to describe these animals at various ages. A baby cow is called a calf. A female calf is sometimes called a heifer calf and a male a bull calf. A heifer is a female that has not had any offspring. The term usually refers to immature females; after giving birth to her first calf, however, a heifer becomes a cow. An adult male is known as a bull. Many male cattle are castrated to reduce their aggressive tendencies and make them more tractable. Young neutered males, which are primarily raised for beef, are called steers or bullocks, whereas adult neutered males, which are usually used for draft purposes, are known as oxen. A group of cows, cattle, or kine (an archaic term for more than one cow) constitutes a herd. English lacks a gender-neutral singular form, and so “cow” is used for both female individuals and all domestic bovines. Cattle are commonly raised as livestock for meat (beef or veal, see beef cattle), for milk (see dairy cattle), and for hides, which are used to make leather. They are used as riding animals and draft animals (oxen or bullocks, which pull carts, plows and other implements). Another product of cattle is their dung, which can be used to create manure or fuel. In some regions, such as parts of India, cattle have significant religious meaning. Cattle, mostly small breeds such as the Miniature Zebu, are also kept as pets.
Porcupines on the other hand, do not make good pets and generally do not say moo, neigh or oink. Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp and pointy spines, or quills, that protect them from getting eaten by predators. Animals that are stupid enough eat porcupines often die when the quills penetrate and cause infections. Porcupines are divided between two families of animals: Old World porcupines and New World Porcupines. Porcupines are typically brown or black in color, with white highlights. They have a stocky body, a small face, short legs, and short, thick tail. Porcupines are one of the largest North American rodents, second only to the American beaver in size. Baby porcupines are called porcupettes and are born with softer quills that become stronger with time. Porcupines are native to Asia, Italy, Africa, as well as North and South America. It is highly unlikely that one would find any porcupines working in a balloon factory because their pointy quills would likely pop all of the balloons.