"Bovinoj ne trinkas lakton."
Translation:Cows do not drink milk.
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Yeah, a bit of malglico at work there, sorry. I meant that calves are a subset of cattle as a species. I used bovino because of the English tendency to refer to the species by the name of the adult female (and because I was confusing the Esperanto feminine infix -in- with the Latinate suffix -īnus, denoting a relation). Stupid mistake sorry but my point was some bovinoj do drink milk as some bovinoj are bovidinoj.
That's just how it is in English, they're not called cows until they're adult and have had offspring. "An adult female that has had a calf (or two, depending on regional usage) is a cow. A young female before she has had a calf of her own and is under three years of age is called a heifer." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle http://www.clovermeadowsbeef.com/cow-heifer-steer-bull/
Well, "Bovinidoj trinkas lakton!"
Did I say that right? I am trying to say "Calves drink milk!"
OOOPPS! I found it. It should be: "Bovidoj trinkas lakton!"
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16967/16967-h/16967-h.htm#letterC
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL29F6F6DF7838A2FD&v=e4GqXUoh7wk
Cows may not drink milk, but pigs apparently eat bacon.
It seems to me that "bovine" is more of an attribute word, while "cow" and "bull" are words for the animal itself. There is no gender neutral word for the animal in English.
One could say "bovine milk", using "bovine" as an attribute of "milk", but I think the only way to translate "bovo" into English as a gender neutral word would be "bovine animal", which while seeming technically correct and understandable, would be horrendously irregular and clunky.
While I guess one could say "a bovine" or "bovines" when referring to non gender specific cows and / or bulls, I don't generally find that in practice.
199
This probably comes from this riddle:
Say "silk" five times. Now spell "silk." What do cows drink?
2372
They (adult cows) also drink milk when given it. However, normally they wouldn't have access to it. Perhaps the sentence ought to be: Bovinoj kutime ne trinkas lakton.
I suppose they would trust the farmer and drink milk in the trough if there was no water, but can you imagine the cows all trying to drink milk from each other? No access? Probably the cows wouldn't let each other. Hey, that milk is for my calf!
What if the calf has died for some reason.... No way! Just eat your grass or hay and drink that water over there! Have you ever seen any grown cows try?
They don't drink milk (or do they? see below) and maybe that is because their mothers weaned them off of it. Maybe if you bring them a bucket of milk, they might? They might be lactose intolerant now, having done without milk all this time. The bacteria that helps us digest milk dies off if we have no dairy products for a long time. I wonder if that happens to cows also?
Or is there an adult cow out there whose mother never stopped giving it milk?
2372
In one of the James Herriot vet books he mentions an example where an adult bull is still suckling. To those of you who speak American English, a vet, in the UK is a doctor for animals.
1366
Everyone simmer down about cows and milk. This is a course on Esperanto, not animal husbandry. The sentences they give us don't need to be true or even make logical sense. They just need to teach us the vocabulary and grammar of the language.
You people are gonna lose your minds if Duolingo adds the sentence, "La bovino manĝas infanojn por matenmanĝo."