Video
Cow - ASL / Audio Description
Transcript
Sounds of deep moan-like bellows, smells that mingled odors of sweet and pungent, and the sight of these massive animals so valued by the Spanish colonists were new and strange in the Sonoran Desert and for the Indigenous Tohono O'odham living along the river. Cows immediately impacted and transformed much of the natural and cultural landscape especially along the Santa Cruz River. The Anza expedition, that walked through this very spot about 250 years ago, brought 302 head of cattle whose need for pasture and water was a constant concern for this small band of colonists moving across the arid landscape of the Southwest. Not only were cattle a source of food, but a means to make the land they took seem more like home. To have familiar food in an unfamiliar place is a source of comfort for many. The Tohono O'odham did not have a need for fences, and cows roamed easily onto their fields, eating and trampling crops. Early Spanish colonists claimed the areas where the cows foraged. This practice of stealing land disrupted and marginalized the Tohono O'odham and their culture. Just as the desert plants and animals were not adapted to large grazing herbivores, the cows were not adapted to a desert environment. To maintain weights up to 1000 lbs each animal had to eat about 25 pounds of native plants each day and drink a lot of water! If you multiply 25 lbs by 302 expedition cattle you may get a sense of how much vegetation that is - every day!
Description
ASL / Audio Description for the Footprints interactive exhibit at the Anza Trail Cultural History Park in Tucson, AZ (COW)
Duration
1 minute, 50 seconds
Credit
AZFLIS
Date Created
01/05/2023
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