On the topic of Auðumbla, John Lindow says that cows appear commonly in creation narratives around the world, yet "what is most striking about Audhumla is that she unites the two warring groups in the mythology, by nourishing Ymir, ancestor of all the giants, and bringing into the light Búri, progenitor of the æsir." The primordial being Ymir suckles at the udder of Auðumbla as she licks Búri out of the ice in a painting by Nicolai Abildgaard, 1790 Auðumbla is the only cow mentioned by name, and the author adds that "she is the noblest of cows". The second and final mention of Auðumbla occurs in the Nafnaþulur, wherein the author provides a variety of ways to refer to cows. He recounts that Auðumbla once licked salts for three days, revealing Búri: The first day she licked free his hair, the second day his head, and the third day his entire body. Gylfi asks what Auðumbla ate, and High says that she licked salty rime stones for sustenance. High says that the cow Auðumbla's teats produced four rivers of milk, from which Ymir fed. In Gylfaginning, Gangleri (described earlier in Gylfaginning as king Gylfi in disguise) asks where, in the distant past, Ymir lived and what he ate. Attestations Īuðumbla's sole attested narrative occurs in the Gylfaginning section of the Prose Edda, and her name appears among ways to refer to cows later in the Nafnaþulur section of the book. ![]() This semantic ambiguity may have been intentional. However, auðr can also mean 'fate' and 'desolate desert,' and so Auðhum(b)la may also have been understood as the 'destroyer of the desert'. As highlighted above, Auð- may mean 'rich' and in turn 'rich hornless cow' remains generally accepted among scholars as a gloss of the Old Icelandic animal name. A parallel occurs in Scottish English humble-cow 'hornless cow', and Northern Europeans have bred hornless cows since prehistoric times. The compound presents some level of semantic ambiguity. The cow's name variously appears in Prose Edda manuscripts as Auðumbla, Auðhumla, and Auðumla, and is generally accepted as meaning 'hornless cow rich in milk' (from Old Norse auðr 'riches' and * humala 'hornless'). 3 Scholarly reception and interpretation.But this is mere speculation, as funny as those speculative drawings may be. Over time, the fur got more and more prickly, and you know what happened as a result? Because they were able to defend from predators without exerting large amounts of energy from running away, their horns got even bigger! It seems to be a positive feedback-loop, and the researchers suspect that in less than a million years, these animals will look like giant sea urchins with hooves coming out the bottom and horns half the weight of the rest of the body. ![]() However, those individuals with naturally coarser and more rigid fur survived more encounters, as predators recoiled from their rough, sandpaper-esque skin. As the horns got bigger and heavier, the animal became slower and less precise, with its vision partially hindered, and it taking absurd amounts of energy to move around while carrying that gargantuan headgear. Interestingly enough, the prickles evolved as a direct result of the horns. However, this extra deterrent is enough to keep the species alive. ![]() That is not to say they are without predators their sides and belly are unprotected. However, they are still mighty-sharp, and predators such as Chriopes and Wolfrats are hesitant to jump them from the back, because ow. Unlike on a porcupine, the quills are neither barbed nor loose, and to not detach when embedded into the flesh of an attacker. The shoulders, hindquarters, tail, and hind legs are lined with pointed hairs, super-modified into sharp quills. But it's from the back that things get fun. While noticeably smaller, they are still quite large on females, and all individuals use them to fight off predators coming in from the front, goring and tossing away threats. The horns on the male seen above grow to an enormous size, and are used in fights with other males. Another descendant of the noble and mighty Beefalo, the Porcupine cow has some interesting quirks.
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