# Painting eyes on cow butts help ward off predators **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 18, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409 "2020-08-18T13:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/1 "2020-08-18T13:46:18Z")
Article here: > **[Study confirms that painting eyes on cow butts helps ward off predators](https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/08/study-confirms-that-painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-helps-ward-off-predators/)** > > There's no silver bullet, but "eye-cow" technique is one available tool for farmers. Ignoble nomination? IMHO this definitely fits Brian ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/2 "2020-08-18T13:54:04Z")
Was going to mention face-masks (not the covid kind but the Halloween kind) worn by people to ward off lion attacks, but the article covered that. BTW, the comments are pure gold. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/3 "2020-08-18T14:01:16Z")
It’s _really_ too bad the report was not on Arse Technica. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/4 "2020-08-18T14:01:17Z")
(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 876000 hours unless flagged) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/5 "2020-08-18T14:03:43Z")
VERY Interesting. In my book, Medusa, I argued that gorgon faces (with their outsized, staring eyes) ended up on _antefixes_ along roof edges, and in a follow-up article argued that _oscillae_ and _protome_ also used those intense eye imates to scare birds away from roof edges and fruit trees and even graves. The same thing, I argued, is responsible for gargoyles (keep birds from nesting in roof-draining downspouts) and Daruma figures placed in Japanese rice fields (keep birds away). The same principle is used today with ceramic owls and “Scare-Eyes”: and “Terror-Eyes” balloons (which were the subject of a scientific study that verified their efficiency in reducing bird attacks on fruit trees). > **[Medusa](https://srichardwilkcom.wordpress.com/medusa/)** > > In 2000 Oxford University Press published Steve’s book Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon.   It’s a completely new interpretation of the Origin and Meaning of the Myth of Perseus… > **[Medusa Extra — Oscilla etc.](https://srichardwilkcom.wordpress.com/medusa-extra-oscilla-etc/)** > >     This page has some material from chapter Nine of Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon, as well as from my Classical World article, “The Scarecrow of Os”, along with pictur… Looks like the same “startle eye” effect works on lions, too. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/6 "2020-08-18T14:55:27Z")
In— _Spell of the Tiger_, I believe it was— Montgomery reports that locals in the Sundarbans tried wearing a mask of a face on the back of their heads for protection against man-eating tigers, reasoning that tigers pounce on their prey from behind and would not approach if it looked like they could be seen. It worked like a charm— for about six months. Then the tigers figured it out. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/7 "2020-08-18T15:02:05Z")
Don’t have a cow, man. But if you do, might as well paint some eyes on its butt. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/8 "2020-08-18T15:12:31Z")
Have they tried painting Chris Hansen yet? ---
**Author:** ![LegendsofClear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@LegendsofClear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendsofClear)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/9 "2020-08-20T05:34:33Z")
I read a cracked article once that claimed there was a study where money was left in a room something’s with a painting of a large pair of eyes and that those people in that room were less likely to steal the money than people without the painting, interesting. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-help-ward-off-predators/918409/10 "2020-08-20T09:18:41Z")
In one of my childhood Babar books, the elephants painted eyes on their asses to scare off their enemies. And they wore grass skirts, to look like hair. It worked.