If society is made stronger by diversity, then we have a lot to learn from the animal communities in farmyards, which display a wide range of bizarre behaviors. There are cows who drool 25 gallons of spit a day, ducks who hiss and purr, and even pigs who play videogames. Read on for more!

Cows like to eat

Dairy cows consume over 100 pounds of food per day and up to 40 gallons of water per day, thanks to a high metabolism. They also spend about 8 hours a day chewing their food.

That’s a lot of cow fluid

Cows are big fluid producers. Not only can dairy cows yield 1,500 gallons of milk each year, but they can also drool about 25 gallons of saliva a day!

What’s more, a thousand-pound beef cow will produce up to four tons of manure annually.

Sheep can see you around

Sheep are really hard to surprise from behind. Their eyes have a field of vision of 300 degrees, allowing them to see whatever is sneaking up on them from the rear, without moving their heads.

And like goats, they don’t have teeth on their upper jaw—they use their hard palates to grind food.

Mother chicken knows best

We once believed that chickens’ behavior was instinctual. But now there is mounting evidence to suggest that chicks learn the ropes by observing other chickens, especially their mothers.

Hens steer their babies away from dangers, like bad food and predators, teaching them valuable life lessons.

Goats look on the sunny side of things

The Humane Society of the United States reports that goats can be optimists. A study compared goats who had been abused before being rescued to goats that had never been mistreated.

The mistreated female goats were more likely to approach and trust previously unseen buckets of food that had replaced buckets containing their favorite treats.

“The researchers reasoned that the animals recognized their once-stressful living situation had improved, rendering them more optimistic.”

Smart as a pig

Pigs are considered to be the fourth most intelligent animal, after chimpanzees, dolphins, and elephants.

They are among the fastest learners in nature. Some pigs have reportedly discovered how to open and shut doors, guide flocks of sheep, and even play video games.

Hello Dolly

In 1996, scientists revealed that Dolly the Sheep was the first mammal to ever be cloned from another’s body cell. It sparked a heated debate about the ethics and implications of cloning.

“It basically means that there are no limits. It means all of science fiction is true,” said Princeton University biologist Dr. Lee Silver in a New York Times interview.

Dolly died six years later and is now on display at the National Museum in Scotland.

The color of chicken eggs

Whether white, brown, cream, green, or blue, the color of chicken eggs is determined by the bird’s genetics. (Quality and taste of the eggs can be affected by the bird’s living conditions and types of food consumed.)

All eggs start out white in color, and may have other pigments added as they make their way through the hen’s oviduct.

Like a goat on caffeine

If goats jumping around look like they are riding a coffee buzz, it’s appropriate. An Ethiopian legend claims that coffee beans were discovered by goats.

As food writer Tori Avey explains, a goat herder named Kaldi “found his goats frolicking and full of energy after eating the red fruit of the coffee shrub.” Kaldi tried some of the fruit himself, with a similar reaction, and the grounds were put into place for the favorite morning addiction of millions.

Ducks not all they are quacked up to be

We all know that ducks quack. But do they really? Most male ducks are on the silent side, while female ducks make more noises.

While some quacking may be involved, vocalizations can also include hisses, purrs, grunts, squeaks, whistles, honks, and much more. Sounds differ according to need—for example, they might signal that the duck is begging for food, begging for love, or warning of danger.

Do pigs sweat?

It is a myth that pigs do not have sweat glands. They have a few, but not enough to effectively regulate their body temperatures (as all mammals must) when temperatures rise.

So, that’s why on a hot day you’ll see swine rolling around in the water and mud.

Rabbits jump for joy

When rabbits are happy, they do something called a “binky”—they jump into the air and spin around. And when we say “fast as a jackrabbit,” that’s fast: jackrabbits have been clocked bounding (joyfully) at speeds of 72 kilometres per hour.

Serially monogamous ducks

Ducks usually stick to the same partner for a breeding season, but they do not often mate for life.

When the next breeding season comes around, they look for the next healthiest, most robust mate, so the best genes are passed on to the next generation.

Length of the turkey snood

Turkey gobblers (males) and hens (females) both have a snood (dangling appendage on the face) and a wattle (red dangly thing under the chin).

The longer the snood, the healthier the turkey. And apparently, hens like gobblers with long snoods.

Cows respond to kindness

Research has proven that if you name a cow and treat her as an individual, she will produce almost 500 more pints of milk annually. And in case you were wondering, it takes approximately 350 squirts from the udder to produce a gallon of milk.