Dibs

I’ve always admired authors who have specialties: they’re experts; they’re the go-to guys and gals on their given subjects, and they devote their lives to studying, experiencing, and writing about this one little facet of the world. New Zealand veterinarian Graham Meadows is one of those. He has co-authored more than sixty books for children and several for adults. His topic? All things bovine. His latest work, the Pocket Guide to Cattle Breeds of New Zealand, includes thousands of details about those familiar four-legged creatures, including the following: Cows are not color-blind. “They can recognise different people by their clothing or shape, they can count, and can associate more than one person or a person appearing in, say, green overalls with the stress of forced handling or injection,” we learn in the Taranaki Daily News. “Tame cattle really do enjoy being stroked and patted by the people they know well, and that’s because cattle have sensitive skin.” Who knew?!