Dutch Height & Udders

, From the moment, i touched down at Schipol, queueing at the customs, i had felt it... The Dutch are really a tall people! In fact, it is not just the young people but the older generation too. According to an article that i read some time back, it puts the average height of Dutch males to be 1.83m, making them the tallest in the world. In fact, my feel about it was so acute that it immediately cured my slouch problem, as i had to correct my posture to be just of average height among the Dutch.

On our first evening in Amsterdam, SK and I were chilling out (pun intended =P, it was about 13 degree celsius then) in Vondelpark. As we engaged in the voyeuristic activity of people watching, we once again marvelled at the height of the Dutch. Being the good Science stream students that we are, we then put forth theories/hypothesis on the reasons for the "outstanding" Dutch people.

One of the bold theories i had put forth is that the effect of the terrain of the nation on the height of its people. As known to many, the Netherlands is one of the nations with the lowest terrain, with many parts below sea-level. This contrasts with Nepal, the Himalayan Nation, whose people are much less "outstanding". However, i was hard-pressed to give a reasonable answer as why that is so.

And then, during a day trip outside the Dutch capital, we believe that we hit the Jackpot. The cows that we saw appear really well-fed, and their udders were huge! If the typical milk cow has a BMI of 20X, my guestimate would put the Dutch cow at the obese range of around 30X. If any nation would like to make its people "stand-out", just drink Dutch milk!