Enjoying the shade near the bus station
Sai Kung’s most well-known animals are five bulls who have taken up permanent residence. Bert, Brutus, Maverick, Hercules and Tank are most commonly seen chomping on the grass by the Jockey Club car park. In hot weather they sometimes move into the shade near the bus terminus. Tank, big, humped and brown, is the leader. The good-hearted people of Sai Kung watch over them solicitously. All look strong and healthy. If the bulls wander on the road, which is rare, drivers manoeuvre around them carefully.
The cattle are descendants of bovines used to help with farming by Hakkas until about 1970 when farming declined. The farmers abandoned the cattle who have adapted and live on amongst us. The Government controls the population by sterilising, you will notice the ear tags.
Where are the girls? In the heat of the summer, they stay in shaded areas of the Sai Kung country parks, under the trees along Tai Mong Tsai Rd and Sai Sha Rd, anywhere there is shelter from the sun, including sometimes in the town centre. One character was photographed half in the doorway of the Jockey Club betting centre. Did she want to bet or just enjoy the air-conditioning?
Professor Alan McElligott CityUHK
When do the boys and girls get together to mate? Apparently they believe in free love, mating all year round. A cow’s oestrus cycle lasts about 21 days, meaning girls are ready to mate multiple times a year if not already pregnant. In spring they are particularly eager for a little humpy-pumpy. For more insight into this naughty, but natural behaviour we are indebted to Professor Alan McElligott and PhD researcher George Hodgson of City University. Their painstaking research conducted at great length with impressive sophistication found cattle perform preferential grooming, dominant females get the most licking by amorous males.
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