Why do cows have floppy ears?

I am reading a fairly well-known, if not infamous little scientific book at the moment. It is the kind of book that you see on a bookstore 'classics' shelf and think, 'damn I had should really read that so I know what all the fuss is/was about and so that I don't look stupid at some dinner party sometime'. So I bought the book. It has an innocuous cover displaying a perky, colourful tropical bird not mentioned in the text at all and certainly not the choice of the author, I am guessing. It was first published in 1859 and so you would guess that the science is mostly horribly out of date by now. Also you would expect the written English to be a little weird and hard to follow.

Wrong on both accounts.

The science is as relevant as the day it was written. There has, of course been a huge body of work added to it over the years, much like the work of Isaac Newton, but it is still most valid today and is a fantastic read, even for the layman (its not my field at all). There are admittedly a few bits that get involved and I chose to skip over them instead of paging backwards and forwards to the figures at the front of the book but mostly it is pretty easy to follow.

The language is simply beautiful. There is no other word I can use to describe its exact and pure style. There is not one unnecessary word. Every word is measured, weighted and used perfectly. Ideas are communicated in an honest, accurate and illuminating way. It contains a massive body of evidence on the subject, mostly everyday examples of things we see around us. I mean it starts off investigating why cows have floppy ears! We have all seen a cow's ears. No mystery there. Here is a snippet...

'When we look to the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals, one of the first points that strikes us is, that they generally differ more from eachother than do the indiviuals of any one species or variety in a state of nature...

Sterility has been said to be the bane of horticulture; but on this view we owe variability to the same cause which produces sterility...

Not a single domestic animal can be named which has not in some country drooping ears; and the view suggested by some authors, that the drooping is due to the disuse of the muscles of the ear, from the animals not being much alarmed by danger, seems probable.'

I was not expecting to be moved to write about this book, Charles Darwin's 'Origin of the Species'. I expected to wade through it, add it to the bag and move on. After reading it, however, I am forced to say something. I am forced to say something to the people who refuse to read it or those who have read it and branded it false science or dismissed it out of hand because it conflicts with their beliefs. I am forced to say something to the 'creationists' and those who hide in a corner behind 'intelligent design' and monthly try to push that drivel into children's minds in school classrooms via the courtrooms. I am forced to say that this book is too good to be ignored. If you want to know where you truly come from, to understand how we come to be surrounded by such an amazing multitude of different forms of life here on earth, simply read this book! It does not pronounce, there are no ten commandments, no rules for you to follow, no threats, no violence, no war, no rape or murder, no human sacrifice, no misogynistic acts, no fire and no brimstone. Just simple answers to very big questions, miracles one might say.

You see, Charles Darwin wrote 'Origin of the Species' way back in 1859 simply to explain the things he saw around him. He explained why domestic animals almost all have floppy ears, why there are such a wide variety of different and weird looking pigeons, why similar finches all have different beaks on different islands in the South Pacific and why certain plants grow in some areas and not others. Not very evil is it? He explained natural selection, instinct and evolution based on actual experiments he had done ( many in his own garden, cranky fellow!) to prove that it works and made observations so simple as to be virtually indisputable. So if you are looking for mystery, the meaning of life, beauty, eternity and just a good eye-opening read, I recommend a dusty old book by a guy born almost exactly 200 years ago in 1809. He knew a lot more than most people, especially his detractors, know today and had the courage to publish it when the world was not yet ready to read it...